Being ordinary is extraordinary

All my life I wanted to be something else. I have a first name that people can’t pronounce easily, I’m taller than the average man and I have an annoying snort when I laugh.

I have ordinary talents, but I like to think I’m good at ceramics and writing. Being ordinary, as I’ve come to find out, is pretty great.I love the look on people’s faces when I tell them that I don’t play basketball, volleyball or run track.

Growing up, my older sister was the one who excelled academically and in golf. I loved to be ordinary in high school, there was less to be picked on for.

Just because I wasn’t the best academically and I was an awful golfer, doesn’t mean that I was happy about it.In high school, I got a job that I really excelled at – being a personal assistant to kids with special needs. I finally found what I was extraordinary in. Sure, it wasn’t a sport, but to me, it might as well have been.

My senior year of high school I graduated as a Missouri A+ Scholar. Finally, something to separate me from the pack – two years of paid community college.But I decided to take it a step further and come here, to USD. I remember sitting in class and all the seniors were announcing what their plans were after high school. I stood up and proudly announced, “I will be attending the University of South Dakota in the fall.”

I’m a kid from a town of 3,811 people. For someone to come this far for college is almost unheard of, though we did have one other girl from my high school attend USD – volleyball player Bailey Lupardus.

I am thankful that I am ordinary. I am thankful for my wacky name, being crazy tall and having that odd snort when I laugh. Being ordinary, I have learned, is the best thing that could ever happen to me. I am incredibly thankful to be ordinary.