Shelby Miller

While I am still in graduate school, I am well on my way in pursuing my dream career. Right now, I am at the University of Tennessee studying sport psychology for my master’s degree and just submitted my Ph.D application for the same specialization. With these degrees, I will become a sport psychology consultant, working with young athletes to help improve their mental health while competing in their sport. I also hope to become a researcher in the sport psychology field. Right now, I am working on my master’s thesis, investigating athlete’s relationship with themselves during their collegiate career. With the findings of my research, I hope to spread the importance of having a strong relationship with yourself to young athletes as I progress in my career. When I was in high school, all I ever saw myself doing was being a swimmer. I didn’t have much interest in school- and when people would ask me what I was going to study in college, I told them the typical answer most people would give- business marketing. My first two years of college I swam at the Division I level, and I really struggled in my business classes because I didn’t like it. All I ever cared about was swimming, but I knew that if I had to pursue a career, I wanted to do something meaningful and make an impact on people’s lives, but I wasn’t too sure what that was yet. At the end of my freshman year of college, my team was cut from the university. We triumphantly raised money to bring back the team for one more season but was ultimately cut again. Luckily, I got to finish out my sophomore season at that school – but when I had transferred to swim for a new team -I faced the most difficult challenges I had ever faced in my life. I left behind a family I thought I would be with for four years -and I watched my teammates who chose not to swim, struggle with not swimming anymore. Further, I faced my senior year swimming with no teammates, which forced me to improve my mental health and mental strength as a swimmer -and a person. This experience solidified my passion for pursuing sport psychology – and pushed me to attend one of the top programs in the United States for that field. My journey started off like most young adults – lost, confused, and entering their college experience pursing a degree because it will most likely make me a lot of money when I got out of college. But I knew by the end of my freshman year that that path wasn’t for me. I knew I wanted to do something important, I wanted to do something that I believed would fulfill my existence, and I wanted to do something that made a difference. So, I changed my major my sophomore year and chose a path I knew that made me happy. I worked very hard to get into the school of my dreams – and now I’m well on my way to making the difference I want to make. To all the little girls out there with a big heart and a dream – Dream on and work hard. There will be roadblocks, large and small. And there will be people who might think you’re crazy and say that you can’t. But Yes. You. Can. You’ll look back on your journey one day and find that it while it may be difficult – it shapes you into the person you become. And that is more beautiful than anything else you’ll find in this world.