Bowling Green, Ohio is surrounded by fields. It's a little town off of I75 and about 30 minutes south of Toledo, which is the nearest big city. Bowling Green also has a cute little downtown area lined with shops and different food options you will only find here. People that live in Bowling Green know this city is either home or a second home and it's one of the best college towns. Students that come to Bowling Green State University soon come to find out this place is one of a kind and you can get the best stuffed bread sticks in the world at Polleyes.
I grew up in Toledo and never pictured myself coming to Bowling Green. It wasn't until I went to community college that I figured out I wanted more in a college. When I got my acceptance letter to BGSU I knew the next four to five years would be challenging but amazing. In the fall of 2012, I moved into my first dorm on campus and started my first year as a falcon. Who knew I would grow to love and cherish this place so much? The next five years would prove to be the best years of my life, so far. In my first semester, I joined a sorority and started photographing for the BG News and soon after with the BGSU Athletic Communication Department. I would then intern with athletics for a year doing photography and some office work then in my first senior year I joined a service fraternity and again interned with athletics.
I soon realized where I actually felt at home and where I called home on campus, the Doyt and the Slater Ice Arena soon became my homes. These two places became the only places you could find me on game days. Hockey and football became kind of a second language, they became something that I looked forward to and put my heart and soul into. This campus, this city, gave me everything that I love today.
But why is this city so important to me? Well, when my mom moved to Columbus when I moved to campus I didn't really feel like I had a true home. I spent so long in the same city, in the same house, with the same people, and I wasn't ready for the change. But I met amazing people my first year and continued to meet people that would change my life. I met all of my closest friends here as well as my boyfriend. Bowling Green gave me the opportunity to find love and to find a passion for photography and surprisingly working with people. I am a firm believer that this campus brings out the best in people. Bowling Green brought out the best in me, it appealed to a side of me that I didn't even know I had. This campus gave me the opportunity to join a sorority, which is something that I didn't think was in the cards for me at all, and I joined a service fraternity only because one of my friends talked me into it and I ended up absolutely loving it. My internships provided me with contacts for life and field knowledge that I wouldn't have received in the classroom.
This campus, this city is one of the places I love to call home and one of the places I will continue to return to every single year. Especially for football and hockey.
Note: The most important field knowledge I learned is that if a football player is coming at you, even if you don't realize it and think you're getting a good shot, MOVE.
