2024届毕业生:卡琳娜·马丁内斯-孔特雷拉斯

卡琳娜Martinez-Contreras 是马里兰州布伦特伍德市的运动学专业学生.

当我踏上国会山的第一步时，我是: 一个非常胆小和害羞的人, 但自从我在金沙js6038工作以来, 我已经能够重塑自己成为今天的我. And I am glad to say that I am now someone who isn’t afraid of public speaking, 是外向的, 并且总是愿意尝试新事物.

在毕业典礼上敲响老主楼钟的人是: 感恩、骄傲、有成就. I am grateful to God for allowing me to finish this journey that I started four years ago. I am also proud of all the hard work and effort I put in to achieve this dream goal of graduating college. I feel accomplished because despite the bumps and the obstacles I have had on the road to get here, 我用努力和决心克服了这一切. 我可以真心实意地说，为了看到毕业典礼，我付出了很大的努力, 现在它就在这里，我无法用语言来形容我内心的喜悦.

真实的经历: 在我的实习课上, I had an internship at a physical therapy clinic where I learned a lot about adaptability and compassion. 我去体验和聆听人们的故事, 说到这里, 我也有机会看到什么努力工作, 的决心, 纪律可以直接帮助你. The way some of these patients recovered during their treatment astonished me, 我对健康/医学领域越来越感兴趣.

我的顿悟时刻: I learned that it is important to see the positive in every negative even when you think that there isn’t one. Not everything will go as planned and that is something we must learn to accept, 听起来很难, 但如果你看到每件事积极的一面, you’ll learn to see that everything happens for a reason 说到这里 you also gain a valuable learning experience that helps you to better yourself in the long run.

我在山上留下的脚印 我在吉尔中心留下了我的足迹, where I had most of my classes and where I learned about the importance of exercise and was able to implement that knowledge in my own life at the gym.

对我影响最大的教职员: Dr. Jessica 福特 has been a big influence in my journey here because she was there when I needed guidance. When I thought that I had wasted my time and my plan was no longer doable, Dr. 福特 stayed late to help me figure it all out and gave me calm in my moment of worry. I really appreciated the time she took to help me out and how she has been pushing me ever since to surpass even my own limitations.

史上最佳课堂: 我上过的最好的课是运动损伤的预防与护理. 格雷格Nibbelink. 这门课是我最喜欢的，因为尽管它很难, it provided not only lectures but hands-on experiences for real-world emergencies. 例如, we as the students were able to practice how to do a head-to-toe palpation in case of an emergency and also learned to identify ankle anatomy, 除此之外.

Tell us a little about your activities, including sports, during your years at McDaniel: 在金沙js6038的那些年里, I was a Student 可访问性 and 支持 Services tutor for mathematical fundamentals and was recommended as a tutor by Senior Lecturer Michele Gribben. 我也是大二学生的住宿助理, 初中, and seniors during my junior year and then later on was an RA for first-year housing my senior year. I was also a summer RA where I got to work closely with Ann Mathias and Michael Robbins.

让我大吃一惊: How well I was able to overcome obstacles and adapt to the situation at hand. Sometimes things wouldn’t go my way and I couldn’t do anything about it except overcome it and adapt in order to keep pushing forward. 当你不拘泥于一件事时，你会惊奇地发现所有的事情都会发生!

我在校园里最喜欢的地方: My favorite spot on campus was Roj Student Center because the majority of the time I spent on campus was spent in a corner in that place typing papers, 与居民会面, 和朋友聊天.

我在金沙js6038学到的最令人难以置信的想法: Something that blew me away at McDaniel was how small the campus was and how you could walk across campus in like five minutes. 我以前参观过其他学校，它们总是那么大. 这个校园这么小，却这么大，真是令人难以置信.

我最重要的头衔: 物理治疗vs. 按摩师.”

说白了就是: My capstone is about comparing the recovery rates for lower back pain between two different treatment types. The treatments being compared were physical therapy and chiropractic treatment. The goal of my capstone was to see which one of these treatments resulted in better recovery rates for people with lower back pain.

接下来是什么: My plan is to take a gap year and work to save money to then apply to the cardiac sonography program at Johns Hopkins. 在我休假的一年里，我计划回萨尔瓦多放松一下.

你怎么和金沙js6038保持联系? I will stay connected to McDaniel through the 运动机能学 department by keeping in touch with Dr. Steve McCole和Dr. 福特. 我也会通过财政援助部门保持联系, where I was able to learn a lot about what goes on behind the scenes with financial aid and where I was able to meet amazing people. 我也会通过宿舍生活办公室保持联系, 在那里我也有机会走出自己的舒适区.

如果你获得了经济资助，这对你和你的家庭意味着什么? Receiving financial aid meant that it would make it a little easier to be able to attend college. Knowing that my parents had to make sacrifices to put two kids — me and my twin sister who also chose McDaniel — through college at the same time made it difficult to take the opportunity to attend. So, 通过努力工作, 我和姐姐获得了学术奖学金, which added on to the state aid that we received due to our financial situation at home. 总之, 经济资助改变了上大学的命运, 所以通过接受它, this meant that my family could have some extra help when it came to paying tuition.

你是你的直系亲属中第一个上大学的吗? 这段经历对你意味着什么? 是的，我的双胞胎妹妹， 凯瑟琳Martinez-Contreras, and I are the first in our family to attend college and this experience has meant the world to me. I always knew it was going to be hard but the obstacles that stood in my way were not enough to make me quit. My family was one of the many reasons I kept going because I knew that by being the first to attend and graduate college, 我不仅是在尊重自己，也是在尊重他们. 他们做出了很多牺牲, so by graduating I am not only showing appreciation but am also showing them gratitude.