Kristen Petersen '16 Recruiting Profile

My name is Kristen Petersen and I just started my senior year at Parkway West High School. I have been a lover of the water my whole life, from my days at the YMCA learning to blow bubbles to swimming competitively. I have swam on Parkway Swim Club for 12 years and have enjoyed every minute of it. In addition to club swimming, I also have been swimming varsity at my high school since freshman year. While I swim to relieve stress, have fun, and make lifelong friends, I also strive to keep improving and become an unstoppable force in the pool. However, my greatest goal is to continue being a mixture of an outstanding athlete, student, and citizen.

In swimming, my competitive nature drives me to put forth every ounce of energy towards making each practice and each meet count. At dryland I compete against both the girls and boys to be the hardest working, strongest member of the team. During swim sets, I challenge myself to venture out of my comfort zone to do tougher intervals. I put forth such energy so when meets come around, I am the most prepared swimmer both physically and mentally. No matter my condition or the competition, I will always get up and race until I reach the finish. This mindset has made me successful in the pool. Most notably, I was the St. Louis Post Dispatch's Metro Swimmer of the Year for my performance at 2015 MSHSAA Girls State High School Championships. I placed second in both the 50 free and the 100 free, coming within a total of only .11 seconds of winning both events. I believe that my performance showed how competitively driven I am, especially since I had torn a ligament in my elbow only a week before state and still managed to swim exceedingly well. Most importantly, I believe that my work ethic and desire to compete will make me a successful swimmer at the collegiate level.

Even though swimming takes up a huge part of my life, academics are my biggest focus. At Parkway West, I have attained a cumulative GPA of a 4.35 on a 4 scale, and I also have a score of a 33 on the ACT. My senior year I am enrolled in 4 AP courses: Physics, Spanish, English, and Calculus BC. I have also taken AP Chemistry and AP Government and Politics. This, in addition to many other honors classes I have taken over the years, prove that I transcend expectations while taking rigorous class schedules. Not only do I perform well in the classroom, I genuinely enjoy learning, especially in the areas of math and science. I hope to pursue a major in either engineering or in the realm of sciences. My joy of learning, combined with my determination and work ethic, will help me to be a successful student in college.

Besides swimming and academics, I attempt to use much of my free time to help others. This year at West I will be treasurer of Beta Chi Pi, our science club, and hope to instill a love of science and learning in students at my school. In addition to Beta Chi Pi, I am a member of our math club, Mu Alpha Theta, and plan on assisting members of this club as well. Since I know how difficult running a team can be, I manage the boys swim team at West and do my best to ensure that meets and practices run smoothly. Although I am very busy during the school year, I lifeguard 20+ hours a week in the summer and the first few weekends after school begins. I lifeguard not only to protect the lives of members of my community, but to acquire valuable job experience for the future.

One of the descriptions with which I pride myself on the most is not necessarily one that can be put on an application. I try to be kind to people of all places, as a personal mission and as an inherent part of my personality. A simple smile or helpful hand will make any stranger's day. Whether I am close to a person or not, I will attempt to make their day a little brighter, and that puts a smile on both my face and theirs'. Being friends with everybody may be impossible, but I believe that the more friendships I forge with people, the better. Based on my love of being a great student, athlete, and citizen, I consider myself a well-rounded person with many qualities to offer to colleges, other people, and the world in general.