What a time it’s been…three and a half years came and went SO fast…each semester faster than the last. Iowa State has been a life changing experience and will always hold a special place in my heart.
I say that like someone died but like I just really Love it here okay.
I’m from Bettendorf, Iowa for those who don’t know, and that’s only about 45 minutes from Iowa City; therefore, most of my hometown reps black and gold.
Including my dad and sister.
So, of course, I was the one to throw a little cardinal in the mix!
I decided to come to Iowa State because I didn’t want to do the same as my sister, and I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do for a living, but the few ideas I had were all offered at ISU.
Also, I wanted to continue cheering and I felt that ISU’s program would be the best fit for me, because they have an all-girl team, which is what I was used to.
So I applied, got accepted, and made the team. Woo!
I lived in the dorms (Larch) my freshman year but didn’t make a whole lot of other friends outside of cheerleading.
Which, I am totally okay with because I spent most of my college career with my teammates anyways.
I moved in with a few of them my sophomore year – which are now some of my best friends! We did everything together…cheerleading, grocery shopping, studying, TJ Maxx runs, etc.
Cheerleading is a huge commitment let me tell ya!
We practiced four days a week for about two to three hours, we had three morning lifts each week, we had appearances to attend, along with football games, men’s and women’s basketball games, volleyball games, and gymnastics meets.
Mind you, some of those seasons overlap and there were times where we would have multiple games a week – sometimes multiple games a day!
Also, during all of this, we were preparing for our own competition that we attended in Daytona Beach, Florida in April.
Needless to say, the schedule was crazy.
This is not a complaint by any means, this is just me giving you a glimpse as to what its like to be a collegiate cheerleader.
This experience has been incredible.
As many days I have ached and complained because this sport is so hard on the body, it has been SO worth it.
I will never forget the first or last time I ran out onto the field with Jack Trice full of thousands of cheering fans. The feeling is truly indescribable.
Taylor Shaw Photography
Outside of practices and games, I did have a lot of studying and projects to do as well…obviously!
As I mentioned, I didn’t know what to do with my life when I first got here, so my first year and a half here I was an open-option major…meaning I took mostly gen eds and tried out a few different things to try to figure out a major I liked.
My sophomore year I thought I had it all figured out…I was going to be a dietitian. Yup. This was it, I Loved science, everything was going to be great!
Until I took my first couple science classes.
Absolutely not.
No way was I going to put myself through that…it was definitely not for me.
Back to the drawing board.
I decided I would give advertising a whirl the following semester after taking a few personality quizzes lol and I Loved everything about it so here I am!
I took the creative route because eventually I figured out my niche and I couldn’t be happier with my decision, or more excited to start my job!
I interned with a full service digital marketing agency in New York last summer and fell even more in Love with my major (and the city).
Now, I sit here in my town house in Ames (in the midst of packing boxes for my move) writing this post and I can officially say: I have a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising.
I GRADUATED COLLEGE!
In February, I will begin my job at Digital Chair, Inc. where I will be working on projects that range from social media management, to web design, to content creation for advertising campaigns, to anything else you can image that has to do with the creative aspect of marketing and advertising.
I can’t thank this school and the cheerleading program enough for all the amazing opportunities I have experienced in the last three and a half years. It’s been everything I ever dreamed of and more!
I also can’t thank my family enough for all of their support. They came to every single football game and a vast majority of the basketball games I cheered at Iowa State. Rain, shine, or snow. In the blistering heat and the freezing cold, they cheered on the Cyclones with me, despite being Iowa fans. (I’ve converted them by now, no worries!)
Oh yeah…I forgot to mention I met a cute boy my sophomore year! Naz and I met in Communication Studies 102. This is a class allllll about interpersonal communication; therefore, we talked about relationships for an entire semester…the two of us came out of that class with much more than many of our classmates.
We both missed a lot of class (me for cheer and him for basketball) so we became friends in the beginning to help each other out when we were gone…
Naz’s way of making a move I guess lol…it worked!
Now here we are almost two years later about to move in together across the country!
P.S. the story of how we met is much cuter when he tells it, so maybe we can get it out of him sometime…stay tuned I’ll work on it people!
My time at Iowa State has allowed me to grow and learn so much more than I expected, and I finally got my life together (somewhat…I’m still late to everything but that’s a work in progress lol)
Speaking of being late…I think graduation may be the only thing I’ve ever been early to in my whole life.
PROGRESS people…that’s what its all about!!!!
Hopefully I can continue progressing in that aspect of life and many others in the years to come but for now, I’m closing my chapter at Iowa State and couldn’t be more excited to begin the next!
Thanks again ISU, I will always be Loyal Forever True.
-AP
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