Courtney Poirier has an
unassuming presence when you first meet her.
But after a while you begin to realize there's a driving force beneath the surface that's largely invisible upon first glance. You see it emerge in the weight room, in the classroom, during practice... in the way a steady, focused effort is displayed regardless of circumstances.
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| The Poirier family as they leave for Germany |
So those who know her shouldn't be surprised that she was one of four female athletes at Fredonia nominated for female athlete rookie of the year as a freshman. But it might have been surprising, even to her, that she broke the single-match dig record (42) in her freshman year, a record that had stood for ten years.
Below she tells us about
her freshman year accomplishments, the people who inspired her to do it, and
the future ahead.
What was it like to be nominated for
female rookie athlete of the year? Was it something you expected?
I
don’t think anyone expects to be nominated for an award, at least I certainly
didn’t. Throughout the year I wasn’t playing to further myself in any awards
category. I always play for the team because at the end of the day that’s what
we are. However it was nice to represent Fredonia Volleyball with the
nomination just like Sara Madison (Maddawgswagison) did last year.
How about breaking the all-time digs in
a match record. Was that a big deal to you?
I
guess you could say it was a big deal to me. When I started playing I hoped to
break at least one record before my senior year. I didn’t think it would happen
so soon. I was inspired by Kelly Edinger, she has been working towards being #1
in individual career assists. It was motivating to see her work so hard for it
and made me want to make an impact on the team like she has.
You’ve expressed in the past that
sometimes you worry about what you’ll do career-wise after college. I think
this is something that a lot of students struggle with. How do you approach
that dilemma? Is it something you spend a lot of time thinking about? Have you
made any “progress” in this area after your first year of college?
Finding
a career after college is still something I worry about. I try to approach it
with an open mind knowing that other people my age don’t know exactly what they
want to do after college. It also helps when talking to adults and finding out
how they got to the job they are at today. Most often they will say they never
pictured where they ended up, one thing just lead to another. Both of these
things make my situation less stressful.
I
made some progress with this at the end of the school year. I added a minor in
computer science to see if I like it and am in an internship at my Dad’s work,
Graphic Controls. So far it has been a great experience learning about
real-world business situations and how they operate, which is helpful being a
business major.
I
am fairly confident that by the end of my college experience I’ll have a better
idea of what I want to do.