Thursday, March 22, 2018

Life as an Athlete at ONU.

I made a short video for my Principles of Social Media class about what life was like for me the last 4 years at Ohio Northern University. The video is just a very brief summary of life and in no way does my entire experience justice.

Most of my time spent here at ONU has been spent doing one of three things, swimming, school work, and sleeping. Swimming took up many weekends where we would travel for meets or have a long practice. We also had 3 days during the work week  I would have a morning and an afternoon practice. With swimming being such a huge time commitment, I was forced to manage and prioritize my time to make sure I got all of my school work done. My sophomore and especially my junior year, staying on top of all of the school work was a daunting task and I often found myself only getting a few hours of sleep before practice in the morning. The experience definitely taught me about dedication and kept my priorities fresh in my mind.



School and swimming did not stop me from having a good time at ONU. In fact I had a lot of fun doing different activities with the swim team, but it was the people I met here at ONU who really made the experience unforgettable. Some of the most fun times I have had were the times my friends and I found ways to just entertain ourselves. Sometimes we would stay up until five in the morning just talking about life and having a good time.

Ohio Northern has lots of clubs and other student organizations to keep students busy during their time at school. I am involved in FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), this isn't a huge time commitment for me, only a couple of hours a week, but through it I have met some of the most amazing people and it has given me the opportunity to make some great friendships. There are other interesting clubs students within the engineering college such as building a canoe out of concrete, or building and racing an off-road vehicle.

My time at ONU has given me many high's and lows, and has taught me a lot of lessons. I hope everything I have learned in both life and school will benefit me as I prepare to move off into the real world. I have made life long friends and have made memories I will cherish forever.

4 comments:

  1. Duggan, I can relate to this video on many different levels. Being a student athlete here at ONU takes a lot of time and dedication. It is not always easy to manage your time during a sport, but you have to do your best to ensure that you are performing your best both in the class and in your sport. I am glad you took the time to share this video with us.

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  2. Duggan,

    I agree that it is sometimes very hard to balance life as both a college student and an athlete. Swimming and diving definitely took up a large amount of my time through the intense workouts and meets that were associated with the sport. It's impressive that you were able to stick with it for all four years. Part of me wishes that I had done the same.

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  3. Even though I am not a student athlete, I commend any college athlete! Being in college is hard enough for the non atheltic people like myself. Trying to balance that and a sport is just crazy to me. You also played all 4 years which is a great accomplishment. Great video.

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  4. I thought this video was clever and funny. There isn't a lot to do in Ada, Ohio but I think you captured it pretty well! It's cool that you've been so committed to to a varsity sport and school the way you have been.

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