florida state made me great. i don’t say that statement loosely or passively. i truly believe florida state made me who i am now; a better version than the ones that came before. sure, it might seem a little annoying how often i talk about it even though i left, i abandoned all the people & dreams i had in tallahassee and exchanged them for ones in new york. but how could i not be so overwhelming grateful for a school that led me to something that seemed unachievable at one point.
one piece of information that i keep to myself is that i tried applying to west point the moment i stepped foot in tallahassee. i immediately wrote florida state off at the beginning of my first semester there. i went to fsu because of an ex boyfriend, out of spite, & just because i got in…a recipe that leads to feeling unfulfilled & displeased with your life. i felt unsatisfied everyday at fsu those first couple months. of course i lived the seminole life, fsu isn’t the #2 (#1 in our hearts) party school in america for nothing. i went out more times than i’d like to admit, skipped classes i shouldn’t have, & went to even more parties laced with the spirit of YOLO. i had grown to love the party part of the “party school” title, which, sometimes, in the witching hours of the night, led me to think, “could i be doing something else with my life?”
one september morning in 2021, i went on the west point application portal & sent in my questionnaire. i was hungover from the night before, &, to this day, that night is one of the MOST EMBARRASSING moments of my life. i had gone to a friends party (at the time he was just an upperclassman in my rotc program) & i had one too many drinks & ended up getting carried home by my roommate after sitting on this man’s couch, head deep in a trash can profusely pulling trig. i was so embarrassed from that night, & the reputation it brought upon me, that i decided to shoot my shot with west point as a one way ticket out of tallahassee.
at the time, i had a friend who was in my rotc class & i told him that i sent in my questionnaire into west point & he asked me if i was running away from my problems; accusing me of not giving florida state a fair shot just because of one night. he was right, i was running away…from the embarrassment and the shame i still felt from that night, but a small part of me wanted to see if i could get in, so i kept my hopes up for a response back from them.
when applying to west point, candidates are recommended to start the process as early as possible, but since i decided to start applying in september, the questionnaire was basically the bouncer at the door. the questionnaire gave the west point admissions committee an idea of the type of person i was, academically, physically, socially, & from there, they decided if it would be worth both of our times to offer me an application. now, at the time, i wasn’t used to rejection. i was raised as an only child, so i often got what i wanted growing up. i was a hard working student and athlete so i usually got the positions i wanted in every team & clubs…so i never got too familiar with the idea with rejection. well, a week after sending in the questionnaire, i was greeted with an email that read along the lines of “dear cadet candidate steffany, taina, we regret to inform you that based off your questionnaire, you are not competitive enough to earn a slot into the united states military academy”
i was heart broken reading the email, & it’s until now, over two years later, that i’m comfortable with even telling people about it. i was embarrassed & that letter meant that i was stuck in tallahassee. but the great thing about rejection is that it is simply redirection. since my bed was basically made for me & i had to stay at florida state, i dove in. i made better friends, created better habits, took classes i was interested in, spoke to my professors on a personal level, tried out for club sports, ran for student government positions, & i fell in love with florida state.
florida state was never my dream school, never my #1 choice in high school, or a place i ever saw myself attending when i was in high school, but now? i can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that i am BEYOND proud to have been a seminole. as a seminole, i learned how to be a good person, i met my best friends, i fell in love with playing sports again, i gave back to the seminole student body, i watched sunrises from the top of parking garages with my rotc friends during PT, i saw the same sun set on doak stadium as we tomahawk chopped & sang the war chant on another florida state first down, & i felt at home in college town streets that led me straight to madso & township.
even though i loved my life at florida state, i still wanted to know if i was good enough to attend the united states military academy; i needed to know if i was “americas best & brightest”, so i submitted another questionnaire at the end of my freshman year. this time, i was more prepared. i had a 4.0 GPA, i was involved in a ridiculous amount of clubs, & i had the letters of rec that proved that i was a good student, athlete, & cadet. & this time around, they opened an application for me. 18 months later, i’m laying on top of my perfectly made bed, in a barracks room 1200miles away from doak stadium, in west point, ny.
god closed a door for me, but he opened a window that let in the breeze of the seminole spirit. i wasn’t ready to walk through the usma door yet; i needed to marinate in the things in life that were right in front of me, that would eventually lead me to the same door to try again. florida state is filled with people who know how to work hard, & play harder; it is filled with people who will never say no to a madso challenge or completing perfect week at township even if they have an exam the next morning (an exam they’ll probably ace despite the head-splitting headache they’ll have that taste like a sex on the beach & a tequila water lime).
i’m beyond glad to be at west point, but i couldn’t have become apart of the long gray line without bleeding garnet & gold first. remember where you came from in moments of glory & praise. remember the people that helped get you there, the environment the bred you, & the moments that will linger in your mind that will ALWAYS bring a smile to your face. there’s a brick at the iconic florida state wescott fountain that reads, “may our future be as happy as we were here”…i hope you spend your life chasing stories to tell when you’re old. you deserve to reminisce about the past, enjoy the present, & be excited about the future.
congratulations to another week of being UNCONQUERED, seminoles !!! what a great time to be a ‘nole! IM COMING BACK TO GET MY DEGREE ONE DAY
with all my love,
♡steff
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