Elsie Dabney is 16 years old and is a Junior at Lafayette high school. She is a very hardworking student. She participates in many extracurricular activities including Competition cheer, Sideline cheer, indoor and outdoor track, international club, and Sports Medicine club. She has many goals for her academic and athletic future. She has many friends but her two closest are Bailee Lewis and Tabitha Thompson. “Elsie has the biggest heart and is the most caring person I have ever met.” -Bailee Lewis ” She never fails to make me laugh and is so caring.”-Tabitha Thompson. Her friends also described her as determined, hard-working, and kind.
Elsie is a very athletic person she does multiple sports. Her main sport is Track and Field, but she also does Competition cheer and Sideline cheer. Elsie has recently experienced her second and worst concussion which set her back a lot. This concussion took her out of school for three weeks and out of sports for about four months. Ever since she has been struggling to get back on track. She missed lots of school and wasn’t able to do any physical activity. Now that she is allowed to be back, she is trying to get her grades back to where they should be, and she is trying to get back into sports. Elsie is a sprinter for Track and Field. For indoor she runs the 55-meter dash, 300-meter dash, and the 4×200 meter relay.
For outdoor she runs the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and the 4×100 meter relay. This season just started, and she says that she is not back to how she used to be but is making progress day by day. Elsie stated that she is not sure if she will participate in competition cheer for this coming season that would be her senior season. She said this is because of her most recent concussion; she is no longer allowed to be a flyer for cheer. Elsie loves Competition cheer, but she said she will find it very hard to participate when she can no longer fly since that was her main position. Elsie was also a main tumbler and jumper, but she says without flying that takes away what she loves most from the sport.
Even though Elsie may not participate in Competition cheer she says she may still do sideline cheer since it is her senior year. She says this is very ironic because she has never liked sideline cheer and has always had to do it since it is a requirement to be on the Competition team.
Elsie has many goals for after she graduates high school. She wants to go to college after high school to study Kinesiology because she wants to become a Physical therapist. Elsie has planned out what she will be doing after high school but doesn’t know exactly what school she would like to attend for her first four years of schooling. She must stay in Virginia for college because the state will cover her tuition if she stays here. She would like to go to school and major in kinesiology and minor in pre-physical therapy. Elsie plans on visiting schools over spring break and over the summer to get a better idea of where she would like to go. Some schools she has already seen are JMU, UVA, CNU, and Virginia Tech. As of now she is leaning towards JMU as her top choice because they have one of the best curriculums for Kinesiology in Virginia and both of her older siblings go there. Although she would like to go visit more schools before she sets her mind on it. After she gets her degree from a four-year college, she plans on enlisting in the military and doing either the HPSP program or attending USU and taking part in one of their programs. The HPSP (Health Professions Scholarship Program) is what she is leaning towards right now because she will be able to attend any school in Virginia that she gets into for four years to get her doctorate in Physical Therapy and then she will serve in the military for four years to make up for the time the military paid for her school. Elsie said that this program stuck out to her because of all the benefits. As part of the HPSP, the Military will pay your tuition, provide a living stipend and reimburse you for required books, equipment and supplies. Once you are accepted for the HPSP, your Service branch will contact your medical school and start paying your tuition. Her other option is the USU (Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences) program which is when you go to their school in Maryland and will be active-duty military all four years of medical school instead of joining after you go through the schooling as you would in the HPSP program. She said she is considering this program because her USU education would be paid for by the U.S. government, and you will receive the same active duty pay and the same benefits that are given to a second lieutenant in the Army or Air Force or an ensign in the Navy. Elsie plans on doing one of these programs and being a physical therapy in either the air-force or navy.
Elsie has lots of goals for her future and is working very hard to reach them. She has faced many challenges and setbacks but she is working through them and trying to get back on track to succeed.
