“I was on the playground one day and this kid was being a pain. I was probably about three or four years old. He refused to get off the swing set and I really wanted to get on. So I shoved him. I literally shoved him into the ground, and sat on him” - Madeline Grundt. This is the story of getting kicked out of preschool by Madeline Grundt, who kindly let me interview her in our past English class. After spending the last few months in class together, it wasn’t until our short fifteen minute interview that I discovered how much we had in common. Madeline, like myself, is an introvert. As I find it hard enough to make friends in one town or school, the fact that despite Maddie's reserved personality, she has managed to do this in so many settings is amazing. As moving to college is a new adjustment for many people, the process for Maddie was not a huge culture shock, as she has lived in five different states. Bringing back the aspect of being an introvert, moving around constantly means starting over, and over and over. As scary as this sounds to me, Maddie’s sweet and bubbly personality has allowed her to transition from state to state rather smoothly and become a part of who she is. With the many experiences she has had in her short eighteen years, I am inspired by all she has done and all that is coming for her.
In the beginning of the interview we discussed our taste in music, our similar views on high school and friends back home, until Maddie had told me all the places she had lived, and I became even more intrigued. I had moved around three times back home between local towns, while Maddie has ventured from state to state. This sounds like an introvert’s worst nightmare, but it helped shape Maddie into who she is now and helped her to find herself and things she loves in all the places she has been.
Starting off in Corvallis, Oregon was not the first state Maddie lived in. Before this she had previously lived in Georgia and Charleston, but has little memory of those places. Memories from Oregon include playing in a soccer league, and even better, getting kicked out of pre-school. Like I had mentioned earlier, Maddie not only pushed a boy off the swings at about four years old, but also sat on him and earned getting kicked out of preschool; something not many people can say. By the second time she moved back to Charleston, Maddie was old enough to make and keep her memories close by, even the not so good ones. In a past piece of writing Maddie talked about her horrible summer camp experiences; one of which included creating her long term fear of dolls. But on a brighter note, was able to skip the second grade and move from first into third grade. Aside from missing out on learning cursive and other second grade learning objectives, this goes to show how early on Maddie’s academic success had already been paid off and furthered her interest in knowledge and reading. At such a young age she found a new love for reading. But not “Goodnight Moon” or “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” instead she skipped the children's books and went straight into the Harry Potter series and Percy Jackson, which goes beyond most other reading levels of a typical first grader.
As Maddie got older she moved again, this time, to her favorite place thus far, Hawaii. For obvious reasons, and being a child, Hawaii is such a beautiful string of Islands in which her third to sixth grade self found a love for exploring while still keeping up with soccer. As each island had its own soccer league, Maddie continued playing the sport she loved until yet again, another incident. While in the middle of a game one day she was hit in the center of the face, leaving the cartilage in her nose crooked. Though I never played soccer or had any traumatic injuries, my nose also is 100% crooked, so this story made me laugh as I unfortunately related to it. Anyways, though this is not what ended her soccer career, she found time between school to trade in one hobby for another .Paddle boarding and boogie boarding. Pushing aside her reserved personality to get herself involved with sports and activities to keep her busy and making friends is also really fascinating to me. It it a lot more difficult to get yourself involved in anything social when you don't talk much, but Maddie has managed to push pass this time and time again while joining sports and soon band. While still liking soccer and the friends she made during that time, she found a new love for water sports while being on the most beautiful island. But once again, it was time to move.
In the second semester of sixth grade, Maddie moved back to a familiar place, South Carolina. This third time in Charleston she was able to find herself as a person as she was now getting older. As an introvert, like myself, Maddie and many others may find it harder to not only make friends but be in a comfortable in new places. Being more reserved with others, you find yourself going with the flow more often than not out of fear that if you were to speak up people would disagree or not be interested in what you have to say. Allowing yourself to branch out, become more of your own person and speak out is difficult, but when joining band, Maddie felt at home. She describes her six year involvement in band as something that, “gave [her] a way to express [herself] and do something [she] enjoyed without directly interacting with an audience… a giant community… and it’s all one big happy family”. Most friends she made while living in Charleston came from band as she played a variety of low brass instruments alongside them. This love for band lead Maddie to meeting her best friend and being the person she wants to be, and was looking to find in herself. Middle school is a hard time for most everyone even attending the same school for the whole 3-4 years, and to move several times during this process definitely does not make things easier. As moving around was all that Maddie knew, she put forth her best efforts to keep up and quickly adjust to new homes and schools and that to me, is amazing and inspiring. I would never have been able to make friends in so many schools and as I get attached to things so quickly, moving around and life constantly changing, I would not have been as successful at this as Maddie has been. Again, after the first semester of sophomore year, she was on the road again.
From that second semester until this past fall, Maddie lived with her family in Silverdale. For the first few semesters in Washington, life was smooth with classes, friends and band of course. Despite the melancholy skies and rain everyday, she had made her new best friend McKenna through band and powered through the miserable weather, not letting it get her too down. Maddie was kept busy throughout the summers with Counselor in Training camps, and through the school year with all her prior clubs and sports, with the addition of swim team. When first joining swim team, Maddie swam the 50 Free and the 100 Free, until she had been on the team for long enough and her coach saw the perfect opportunity to show the audience and Maddie her own ability to perform in a longer race. When she found out Coach Whitney had placed her in the varsity heat of the 200 Free race, it seemed impossible and a commitment she could not make. To her own pleasure, Maddie found it to be an eye opening experience in a way. In the following year she trained and built herself up to compete in the 500 Free race, after getting a taste of the 200 Free race. Though the first race was more difficult than she anticipated, by the second race this had become Maddie’s favorite event. In the beginning, this race would have been dreadful to complete and train for, but as her coach pushed her into trying something new, a new door had been opened to Maddie. Getting out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself to do things you normally would not do is such a good way to branch out, but can be difficult. By this point, Maddie had been used to the constant moving and understood that in different environments she would have to be open to trying more things to meet friends from school as a new student. The swim team was not the only thing she excelled in throughout high school. Senior year is when she became the Low Brass Captain for the band, as well as Senior Drum Major! With a lot to balance as the year came to an end, she finished off the last semester and graduated in Silverdale, but her story does not end there. Next up, college.
The next move, was not to a home, but a dorm to take the place of home. Again with moving to college being such a large and difficult transition, for Maddie the experience was different. By this time, she was a pro. Moving to a new place and starting over was Maddie’s norm and a new, exciting adventure. Maddie traded in the grey skies for warm weather and endless opportunities here at the University of Alabama. This school offers scholarships and benefits like no other, and is a huge part of why so many people attend. Being a military child like Maddie, the financial help and benefits, and of course the sun drew her in and lead her to committing to this school, over Oregon State. So far Maddie has enjoyed her time at UA, making friends and thriving in classes along the way. Overall, I was so happy to see how similar Maddie and I really are as the interview was so effortless and flowed so well as we get along well. Not having many friends in class, it is comforting knowing I have someone that I share a similar taste in music and movies with, because that’s always something to talk about. Maddie’s sarcastic and cheery personality made the whole interview so positive and fun to participate in as I was able to learn more about her life before college, while making a new friend during the process.
In the beginning of the interview we discussed our taste in music, our similar views on high school and friends back home, until Maddie had told me all the places she had lived, and I became even more intrigued. I had moved around three times back home between local towns, while Maddie has ventured from state to state. This sounds like an introvert’s worst nightmare, but it helped shape Maddie into who she is now and helped her to find herself and things she loves in all the places she has been.
Starting off in Corvallis, Oregon was not the first state Maddie lived in. Before this she had previously lived in Georgia and Charleston, but has little memory of those places. Memories from Oregon include playing in a soccer league, and even better, getting kicked out of pre-school. Like I had mentioned earlier, Maddie not only pushed a boy off the swings at about four years old, but also sat on him and earned getting kicked out of preschool; something not many people can say. By the second time she moved back to Charleston, Maddie was old enough to make and keep her memories close by, even the not so good ones. In a past piece of writing Maddie talked about her horrible summer camp experiences; one of which included creating her long term fear of dolls. But on a brighter note, was able to skip the second grade and move from first into third grade. Aside from missing out on learning cursive and other second grade learning objectives, this goes to show how early on Maddie’s academic success had already been paid off and furthered her interest in knowledge and reading. At such a young age she found a new love for reading. But not “Goodnight Moon” or “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” instead she skipped the children's books and went straight into the Harry Potter series and Percy Jackson, which goes beyond most other reading levels of a typical first grader.
As Maddie got older she moved again, this time, to her favorite place thus far, Hawaii. For obvious reasons, and being a child, Hawaii is such a beautiful string of Islands in which her third to sixth grade self found a love for exploring while still keeping up with soccer. As each island had its own soccer league, Maddie continued playing the sport she loved until yet again, another incident. While in the middle of a game one day she was hit in the center of the face, leaving the cartilage in her nose crooked. Though I never played soccer or had any traumatic injuries, my nose also is 100% crooked, so this story made me laugh as I unfortunately related to it. Anyways, though this is not what ended her soccer career, she found time between school to trade in one hobby for another .Paddle boarding and boogie boarding. Pushing aside her reserved personality to get herself involved with sports and activities to keep her busy and making friends is also really fascinating to me. It it a lot more difficult to get yourself involved in anything social when you don't talk much, but Maddie has managed to push pass this time and time again while joining sports and soon band. While still liking soccer and the friends she made during that time, she found a new love for water sports while being on the most beautiful island. But once again, it was time to move.
In the second semester of sixth grade, Maddie moved back to a familiar place, South Carolina. This third time in Charleston she was able to find herself as a person as she was now getting older. As an introvert, like myself, Maddie and many others may find it harder to not only make friends but be in a comfortable in new places. Being more reserved with others, you find yourself going with the flow more often than not out of fear that if you were to speak up people would disagree or not be interested in what you have to say. Allowing yourself to branch out, become more of your own person and speak out is difficult, but when joining band, Maddie felt at home. She describes her six year involvement in band as something that, “gave [her] a way to express [herself] and do something [she] enjoyed without directly interacting with an audience… a giant community… and it’s all one big happy family”. Most friends she made while living in Charleston came from band as she played a variety of low brass instruments alongside them. This love for band lead Maddie to meeting her best friend and being the person she wants to be, and was looking to find in herself. Middle school is a hard time for most everyone even attending the same school for the whole 3-4 years, and to move several times during this process definitely does not make things easier. As moving around was all that Maddie knew, she put forth her best efforts to keep up and quickly adjust to new homes and schools and that to me, is amazing and inspiring. I would never have been able to make friends in so many schools and as I get attached to things so quickly, moving around and life constantly changing, I would not have been as successful at this as Maddie has been. Again, after the first semester of sophomore year, she was on the road again.
From that second semester until this past fall, Maddie lived with her family in Silverdale. For the first few semesters in Washington, life was smooth with classes, friends and band of course. Despite the melancholy skies and rain everyday, she had made her new best friend McKenna through band and powered through the miserable weather, not letting it get her too down. Maddie was kept busy throughout the summers with Counselor in Training camps, and through the school year with all her prior clubs and sports, with the addition of swim team. When first joining swim team, Maddie swam the 50 Free and the 100 Free, until she had been on the team for long enough and her coach saw the perfect opportunity to show the audience and Maddie her own ability to perform in a longer race. When she found out Coach Whitney had placed her in the varsity heat of the 200 Free race, it seemed impossible and a commitment she could not make. To her own pleasure, Maddie found it to be an eye opening experience in a way. In the following year she trained and built herself up to compete in the 500 Free race, after getting a taste of the 200 Free race. Though the first race was more difficult than she anticipated, by the second race this had become Maddie’s favorite event. In the beginning, this race would have been dreadful to complete and train for, but as her coach pushed her into trying something new, a new door had been opened to Maddie. Getting out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself to do things you normally would not do is such a good way to branch out, but can be difficult. By this point, Maddie had been used to the constant moving and understood that in different environments she would have to be open to trying more things to meet friends from school as a new student. The swim team was not the only thing she excelled in throughout high school. Senior year is when she became the Low Brass Captain for the band, as well as Senior Drum Major! With a lot to balance as the year came to an end, she finished off the last semester and graduated in Silverdale, but her story does not end there. Next up, college.
The next move, was not to a home, but a dorm to take the place of home. Again with moving to college being such a large and difficult transition, for Maddie the experience was different. By this time, she was a pro. Moving to a new place and starting over was Maddie’s norm and a new, exciting adventure. Maddie traded in the grey skies for warm weather and endless opportunities here at the University of Alabama. This school offers scholarships and benefits like no other, and is a huge part of why so many people attend. Being a military child like Maddie, the financial help and benefits, and of course the sun drew her in and lead her to committing to this school, over Oregon State. So far Maddie has enjoyed her time at UA, making friends and thriving in classes along the way. Overall, I was so happy to see how similar Maddie and I really are as the interview was so effortless and flowed so well as we get along well. Not having many friends in class, it is comforting knowing I have someone that I share a similar taste in music and movies with, because that’s always something to talk about. Maddie’s sarcastic and cheery personality made the whole interview so positive and fun to participate in as I was able to learn more about her life before college, while making a new friend during the process.
Photos:
https://www.intostudy.com/en-gb/universities/oregon-state-university/living/living-in-corvallis-and-oregon
https://www.defense.gov/observe/photo-gallery/igphoto/2001175638/
https://www.eazywallz.com/products/charleston-south-carolina-skyline-wall-mural
https://www.travelchannel.com/destinations/us/sc/charleston/articles/what-to-see-and-where-to-eat-charleston-sc
https://www.planetware.com/south-carolina/where-to-stay-in-charleston-south-carolina-best-areas-hotels-us-sc-31.htm
https://www.to-hawaii.com/oahu/cities/pearlcity.php
https://www.tes.com/lessons/n70OXYs66DGVPw/tuscaloosa-al
https://www.intostudy.com/en-gb/universities/oregon-state-university/living/living-in-corvallis-and-oregon
https://www.defense.gov/observe/photo-gallery/igphoto/2001175638/
https://www.eazywallz.com/products/charleston-south-carolina-skyline-wall-mural
https://www.travelchannel.com/destinations/us/sc/charleston/articles/what-to-see-and-where-to-eat-charleston-sc
https://www.planetware.com/south-carolina/where-to-stay-in-charleston-south-carolina-best-areas-hotels-us-sc-31.htm
https://www.to-hawaii.com/oahu/cities/pearlcity.php
https://www.tes.com/lessons/n70OXYs66DGVPw/tuscaloosa-al