User:Tmetelak/sandbox

Taylor Metelak
Early Life

The first four years of my life were pretty crazy for my family and I. My dad works for Caterpillar, and during those times, he was assigned to work overseas. Due to this, my older sister and I were both born in a different country. I was born on January 24, 2000 in Grenoble, France. By the time I turned one, we had moved to England for another Caterpillar assignment. In 2004, we moved back to Illinois, the place my mother, father, and older brother all lived prior to my dad's overseas assignment. Growing up, I played many sports like softball, soccer, gymnastics, and dance. I enjoyed participating in these sports when I was younger, however, by the time I turned nine, I found a love for competitive cheerleading. I have been participating in competitive cheer ever since.

Education

I was lucky to have only been four years old when we returned to the U.S. I was at the proper age to attend preschool for one year and then go right into kindergarten the following year. I attended Lincoln Grade School, followed by Washington Middle School, and then graduated from Washington Community High School in 2018. After high school, I was very undecided on my major. Luckily Illinois Central College was very close to my hometown and would be a great starter school for me. ICC allowed me to get my general education classes finished for cheaper than a university, while also giving me time to figure out my intended major. I plan on graduating from ICC in the Spring of 2020, earning my Associates in Arts degree. In the fall of 2020 I hope to further my education in Diagnostic Medical Sonography at the University of Southern Indiana.

Career

Growing up as a competitive cheerleader, I was in and out of my local tumbling facility a lot. Eventually, I got hired to work at the gym and pretty much lived there. I got to teach all sorts of kids how to tumble just like me. I ended up getting an injury due to cheerleading and had to take a break from working there. Over the summer, I began to nanny for a family that lives in my neighborhood. I continue to nanny and I am also an ICC student ambassador. This job requires me to give tours of the ICC campus to potential students. I also get to help out at the information desk and work in the Educational Foundation office. In the future, after graduating from USI, I plan to work in a hospital as a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. While I work there, I plan to further my degree and become a Musculoskeletal Utrasonographer and work in an orthopedic center.

Food

Since I was younger, I was always very fortunate when it came to my health. I was never allergic to peanuts or soy, I could eat anything. Recently, in September of 2019, I became diagnosed with celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that doesn't allow me to eat gluten. If I do eat gluten, the vili lining my small intestines will become damaged which will, in part, give me pain. If this occurs, my damaged vili will be unable to absorb the proper nutrients from my food, making it harder for me to digest it. Due to this recent diagnosis, I have had to switch over to a completely gluten free diet. It is especially difficult having celiac disease because I'm not allowed to have even a tiny speck of gluten in my diet. If I eat something that has been cross contaminated in any way, my intestines will continue to hurt until my damaged vili grow back. This process has been very hard for me, however, my aunt and sister also have celiac disease and have helped me through it immensely.

Hobbies

As I have mentioned earlier, cheerleading has been a big part of my life since I was nine. Competitive cheer started for me on the Washington Park District team. I have cheered for a couple different cheer gyms in the area throughout my years. By my sophomore year, I became apart of the competitive cheer team at my high school. I continued to be apart of this team all the way through my senior year. We had great success, finishing with a 6th and 7th place title at the IHSA state finals. This past year, I was asked to fill in for a team that was apart of the gym I grew up tumbling for. This team already had a full paid bid to go to the D2 Summit National Championship competition in Orlando, FL. By filling in, I got to to go with them, eventually winning me a D2 Summit National Championship title in the Medium Senior Level 4 division. Currently, I am not on a competitive team because I have aged out, but I do enjoy helping the WCHS competitive cheer team when I can. During my free time, I enjoy hanging out with my family and friends while I'm still living here at home.

Fitness and Wellness

Fitness and wellness makes up a huge part in any sport, especially when it comes to injuries. Throughout my cheerleading career, I have broken my ring finger growth plate, had two bulging disk's in my back, dislocated my knee twice (stretching my ACL the second time), as well as tearing my labrum in my left shoulder. On December 31, 2019, I received surgery on my shoulder to fix the tear in labrum. I am currently wearing a sling that has to be worn for six weeks post operation. I have also started therapy for my shoulder. It will be an estimated seven to nine months before I am back to where I used to be. I am hoping to get back into cheerleading at USI, which is why fitness and wellness is currently playing a big part in my life right now. In order to heal properly and get back to the level I was at before my injury, I must take good care of my shoulder (wellness) and eventually strengthen it back up (fitness).