A Glimpse of God’s love: The Figure Skating Story

One of the most difficult things that can happen to someone is not being able to do the thing they love. This is a story about a girl who despite losing what she loves to do, finds God’s love glamouring through her experiences. Anna Krcek is a girl who I met at Wheaton and her story is so unique and inspiring it touched me and showed me to always be grateful for what I have and to remember when it’s gone, not to cry because it is over but to smile because it happened.

Anna began figure skating at a young age; it was her passion she loved to be out on the ice; she loved her coach, and she could not imagine her life without either of them. There was nothing better in Anna’s mind then shutting the world out and becoming one with her routine and the ice. She could not get enough of the powerful feeling she got when she stuck a move or performed her routine perfectly. She could not imagine losing this, but when she least expected it. She fell. Anna fell on a simple move that she had landed thousands of times before. But it wasn’t the fall that she felt, but her neck.

The doctor told her that she could never skate again. Anna’s heart sank, the one thing she loved was gone.

Being in 8th grade at the time, Anna could not imagine telling her classmates that she had to “quit” figure skating. So everyday she would go to school and lie about being at practice in the mornings when people asked her. She didn’t want people to have pity or feel sorry for her, she didn’t want to accept the reality. She was never going to skate again.

But as time when on things got better. Anna began to use the skills she used in figure skating through out life. She was taught discipline but with that discipline she learned to have compassion and view the beauty in everything she did. She could finally see God opening up his arms her. God taught Anna that in life everything has an end and just because ice skating wasn’t meant to be that did not mean that He did not have better things in store for her. She thanked Him for not letting her cry because it was over but because He gave her a smile because it happened. God has a plan. Anna saw it, learned from, and lives through it.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.