About Me

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About:

“Read it.” These were (according to my parents) the first words I ever spoke, and they do a pretty good job at summing up my early childhood. I learned to read early, and grew up with my nose perpetually buried in a book. My favorites in elementary school, and still dear to my heart today, are Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on The Prairie series. Life seemed so much more simple and free back then, and plus Laura got to have all sorts of sweet adventures while barefoot and in a dress! When I wasn’t reading, I tried just about every sport imaginable- from ballet to tennis- and was mediocre (at best) at all of them. I loved almost every activity I tried, and as long as I was having fun, winning just wasn’t that important. My mom forced us to go camping a lot as kids, which I hated then, but am completely grateful for now. Those early camping trips instilled in me a love of the outdoors, and an appreciation of the true beauty that exists beyond the city limits. It is my dream to travel and experience more of the natural wonders of our planet. I’ve spent most of my summers since I was a kid at John Knox Ranch- a summer camp in the Texas Hill Country- first as a camper and most recently as a counselor. Some of my best friendships were forged at camp, and the ranch holds so many memories and a truly special place in my heart. John Knox was really influential in helping me transition from the shy bookworm I was into the confident young woman I am today. Since becoming a student at the University of Texas, my lifelong love for all things science has truly blossomed. I have recently realized that the best way to combine my interests of environmental conservation and public health is to pursue a career in wildlife veterinary medicine, and I am excited to see what the future holds!

Why I Ride

Sometimes, it makes more sense if you just think about the numbers. I am the middle child in a family of three sisters. Statistically, one of us will get cancer. As a public health major, I often marvel at the advancements in health made in the past fifty years. You rarely hear of anyone getting polio these days, but sometimes I sit back and imagine what it must have been like to live in the 1950’s. I imagine how it must feel to have a child suffering from, or die of the disease- the sheer devastation and heartbreak caused by a virus. I think about the breathless, finger-clenching wait while the doctor runs some tests. The anxious dread upon hearing the diagnosis. This disease changed people’s lives forever. And then I realize that now, only sixty years later, polio is on the brink of eradication. We can almost say “yeah, but people don’t get that anymore”. It is accomplishments like these, as well as the eradication of smallpox, and the huge strides made in HIV/AIDS treatment in only the last three decades, that convince me that science can someday figure it out. Because the causes of cancer are many and complex, I am not sure we will ever be able to stop people from getting cancer in the way we have saved them from smallpox. But I am convinced there is a cure, just as science has found treatment for malaria, the plague, and diphtheria. I ride because I know there is a cure for cancer, and that humankind is going to find it, we just need a little more time. The entire world is on board. So, although I and my loved ones have so far been fortunate enough to avoid cancer’s clutches, I ride so that when my mom, myself, or my best friend hears that dreaded “c” word in the doctor’s office (because according to the current statistics, one of us will), the reaction is not an earth shattering, life changing diagnosis, full of uncertainty and worry, but rather a shrug, a reassuring smile and a “but we’ve got a cure for that now.”