Since your dad is an alumni, was that a huge influence in your decision at all?

Well, growing up, I would always go to Mizzou games, and it’s really cool looking back on it now and just seeing how important this college was to him. It was the family that he always had, and that one school that was his home. And I grew up always kind of knowing that Mizzou was my second home.

 

Does your dad do anything for the university?

He does not work for the university, but he’s a big Mizzou alumni. He actually just got on the national Mizzou Alumni Board. He’s the head director for the state of Alabama.

 

Some people, when they look back to when they stepped onto their college campuses for the first time, they say they immediately felt a connection that they just knew it in their bones that they had to go to that school. It sounds like you didn’t even need to step onto the campus in order to know that Mizzou was the school for you. Would you agree to that?

[Shakes head vigorously] Oh, no, no, not at all. I remember, especially during Summer Welcome, I was walking around and I kept on asking my dad, “Is it okay? This does not feel like home to me at all. My friends keep telling me about going onto Auburn’s campus, and

how it feels so much like home, and Mizzou’s so foreign to me.”

 

 

If this was the case, why did you end up sticking with Mizzou?

It was kinda just one of those things where I knew in the back of my heart that Mizzou was going to be my home. I never really thought of any other school like that…but also at the time, when I did choose Mizzou, I never thought of all the hardships I was going to go through.

 

You and I have discussed this before, but will you talk about your first semester here? I know it wasn’t the greatest for you.

First semester was probably one of the hardest things in my entire life. I was always trying to find out where I fit in, and I felt like everyone already had their friend group, everyone already knew each other. I didn’t know anyone coming in to Mizzou. There were so many nights when I would sit in my room balling my eyes out because I didn’t fit in the Midwest. There were definitely times when I looked at applying to different schools such as South Carolina, Auburn, stuff like that...but I talked to my dad a lot and he said, “’Look, it was super hard for me when I went to Mizzou. I wanted to transfer. Your brother wanted to transfer, as well.” My dad and my brother are very social, and I kind of thought that if they were going through the same troubles as I was, then I should push through and see what it’s like in the next semester.