Before Harvard
As a child, I grew up as a "weekend warrior," commuting on the weekends to ski races in the Tri-State area where I proudly rocked my raccoon helmet cover, fondly named "Nacho." As a combination of natural skill and a lot of determination allowed me to excel on the slopes within my under-10 age group, I began to notice that the fastest skiers in the east coast skied in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. For the next few years I supplemented my training by night skiing at small local hills outside of New York City, always keeping my eyes on the fast skiers from further north. Before my freshman year of High School, with the help of solid ski results at national competitions and a very thorough PowerPoint, I convinced my parents to allow me to attend a winter ski academic where I could focus on my ski racing in an environment catered specifically for ski racers. The next four years had its ups and downs between injury, switching ski academies, international racing trips to New Zealand, Austria, and Japan, and a close-knit women's team. I attended both my private all-girls school in NYC while juggling their curriculum at a winter-term academy for the winter five months. For my junior and senior years of high school - as the time commitment for ski racing grew and the travel requirements increased - I moved to a full-time ski academy where the school year was curated around the winter months. Attending school from the start of August to mid-June allowed for the winter months to be flexible to four-day race series, significant travel, and training before class. Ultimately, my unconventional path that began in New York City and brought me across New England and the world, led me to the gates of Harvard. 

Harvard
Ski racing, a sport that captivated me for eighteen years, has concurrently caused me a broken fibula, a torn left ACL, torn right ACL, and a broken tibial plateau, all before the age of 23. After spending the allotted nine months of physical rehabilitation after my second torn ACL, I thought I had put the emotional and physical turmoil of injury behind me. Throughout being injured in my freshman year at Harvard I made sure to travel to each carnival with the ski team to both support and cheer on my teammates but also to ensure that I integrated with the team. When my comeback season of sophomore year was impacted by another bout of broken bones and crutches, I found that my mental health surrounding injury was struggling to rebound as it had each of the previous times. Not only was I experiencing physical pain while skiing after that injury, as my bones, joints, and ligaments all seemed to be protesting my want to race down icy ski mountains, but my mind was filled with anxiety surrounding re-injury. 

Ski racing and the Harvard alpine ski team were and are so integral to my life at Harvard. Not only did being a member of the team represent a goal I had worked hard for for many years, but it also served as a driver for so many significant decisions in my life. Furthermore, the people who make up the ski team are so special. After a lot of self-reflection and speaking with old coaches and mental health services, I realized that continuing to ski race was bringing me to a near breaking point both physically and mentally. However, the largest hurdle I grappled with was the concept of losing the team....