As written by the Order of Pegasus selection committee, "The Order of Pegasus is the most prestigious and significant award a student can attain at the University of Central Florida. Order of Pegasus recognizes exemplary performance by UCF bachelor's degree students in the areas of academic achievement, outstanding university involvement, leadership and community service. Students selected for this honor represent the most dedicated, passionate and highest-achieving Knights. The breadth of accomplishments showcases the talent and contributions to the local and global community." Earning this award has been a goal of mine for a while now, but I knew it was something that I was going to have to work tirelessly for. It was a challenge that I took head on.
Academics have always been a priority, opportunities to learn and grow have been super important to me. Having a mom who is a teacher and a dad who is an engineer, I never really had a choice but to thrive in the academic realm. Just because it was super important, though, doesn't mean that it didn't come with its challenges. While success on the field came naturally, in the classroom that was not always the case, however I never wanted academic challenges to stop me from being great at both. I knew that if I wanted to achieve my academic goals, I was going to need help, and that is where my academic advisors and tutors came in. I spent countless hours over the years going over goals, assignments, projects, papers, exam reviews and more with my advisor, Shelanda Duncan, and several tutors, which absolutely paid off. I finished my bachelor's degree in clinical psychology with Summa Cum Laude honors and a 3.97 GPA, an achievement that I am extremely proud of.
Being a student-athlete at this university has been an experience that opened so many doors for me to learn and grow not only as an athlete, but also as a person away from the field. Being a student-athlete brings with it a demanding schedule with daily practice, classes, study hall, midweek games and road trips. Even with these athletic commitments, I was able to stay involved in extracurricular activities outside of athletics. In the 2022-23 academic year I was able to be a part of an undergraduate research study that was led by Dr. Clint Bowers. Through this research I have had the opportunity to become an author of a meta-analysis and literature review of the effectiveness of managerial coaching in the workplace. I have also had an amazing opportunity to be a part of the presidential student advisory committee. With that experience, I had the opportunity to use my voice, skills and passion for UCF to participate in proactive discussions and work sessions that focus on making UCF a more inclusive and equitable community for all students.
Along with dedicating countless hours to my academic involvement, community service has been a huge part of my collegiate experience. It is a part of UCF Softball's culture to get out and give back to the community, so naturally this became a priority for us all. Throughout my past four years, I have served over 125 community service hours in various parts of the Orlando area. We have served anywhere and everywhere from the Oviedo Babe Ruth softball/baseball leagues to foodbanks and marathons for a cause. Our culture has taught me that excellence in the classroom and the community will directly relate to excellence on the softball field. These experiences have been some of the most humbling and wholesome events I have ever been involved in and has helped shape me into the servant leader I have become.
One of the first things that I was introduced to as a member of the UCF softball team was our team's core values. Our core values are Team First, Belief, Competitor, Discipline, and Knights Honor. Leadership has always been extremely important to me and something that I came in feeling I was very good at, but I have learned and grown so much more as a result of my understanding of the impacts that having true core values can have. One of the first things I learned about UCF was its culture, its core values, and how important those things are to success. Because of this I spent my freshman year really trying to learn and engulf myself in these values, and this helped me learn and grow into an even more effective leader than I was before. When my sophomore season began, I was named one of the team captains. This was an absolute honor; leadership has always been something that I take a lot of pride in. I learned quickly how much responsibility this role came with. Initially my role was to lead by example and let my actions speak louder than my words. To me, this meant that I needed to exude our team's core values on and off the field. Since the moment I was named a captain, I made these values a way of life and promised that I would display them not only when everyone was watching, but also when no one was watching. Being a team captain has been one of my greatest accomplishments thus far and I owe so much thanks to my coaching staff and teammates for not only for believing and trusting me to be in this role, but also for equipping me with all of the right tools to be successful. All of these experiences and accomplishments over the years is what led me to reaching one of my biggest goals since stepping on campus in 2019.
Achieving this goal is an absolute blessing. I want to thank God, my family, my coaches, my teammates, and my support staff for equipping me with all the things I need to be the best version of myself every day. I am beyond honored to be able to represent Knight Nation on such a prestigious level.