Getting to college

By Destinee Harrison

It was always a dream of mine to go to college and volleyball helped me get there. It was never easy though; it required a lot of studying to make sure I had the grades to succeed and the dedication to improve my volleyball skills to compete at the Division I level.

School always came relatively easy to me. I maintained an average GPA of 3.52 and I was always in the top 20 percent of my class. Initially, I wanted to be a pediatrician. I love children and I love taking care of others. To gain an edge on other students, I took courses that would place me in the medical field.

Therefore, my junior year of high school I enrolled in health science I which taught me everything I needed to know about the body. I memorized medical terminology for every muscle group and studied functions of the brain.

In 2010, I took health science II. This course taught the skills I would need to take care of patients; I would later use these skills when assigned to work at different wards in the hospital on the U.S. military base in Yongsan, Seoul. At the end of the year, I passed my skills test and was registered as a certified nursing assistant in the state of North Carolina.

With my grades already set I needed to move on to the next task at hand: volleyball. Every summer, I would return to the states to attend volleyball camps at different universities. I attended camps at the University of Texas El Paso, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and the University of Central Florida.

In September of my senior year in high school, I began the process of researching universities I wanted to attend which also offered my initial major, biology.

I was praying that I would receive a full scholarship to pay for school so I uploaded videos to berecruited.com which is a website dedicated to the recruitment of collegiate student-athletes.

Since I attended Seoul American High School in Korea, coaches were unable to watch me play in person as they do most stateside athletes; therefore, berecruited.com was a great way to showcase my skills so coaches could remember my name and circulate it through the volleyball community.

The 13 hour time difference made it difficult to contact coaches and for coaches to contact me. Therefore, I missed the initial signing period in November which meant that coaches from the schools I wanted to attend had already filled the middle blocker volleyball position that I play.

Since my formative years in school were spent at international schools with a diverse group of students, I never considered applying to a historically black college/university (HBCU).

However, I had heard of Howard University and its rich history; therefore, I was ecstatic when the head volleyball coach viewed my highlight film, said I would be a perfect fit for her program, and immediately offered me a full athletic scholarship.

It was perfect! Howard University not only offered the major I wanted, but was also a Division I athletic program. After visiting the campus in early April 2011, I signed my National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play volleyball for the Lady Bisons of Howard University.

I am now a sophomore at Howard University in Washington, D.C. My major is broadcast journalism with a minor in Spanish and I have loved every minute of both my academic and athletic experiences.

I am a middle blocker on the Lady Bison Volleyball team and this year I was named to the Middle Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) All-Academic Team.

Getting to college was not very easy, but it was worth every late-night study session and worth every bit of blood, sweat and tears shed on the volleyball court.

Destinee Harrison studies broadcast journalism and Spanish at Howard University.