Name: Raina Johnson
Class Standing: Senior
Major: Management and Marketing
No matter what kind of mood you’re in, Raina Johnson is sure to brighten your day. Her smile is contagious, and as she told me in our interview, she loves laughing and making other people laugh.
As a student-athlete, member of over six student organizations, founder of the Student Marketing Team for Men’s and Women’s soccer, and an employee at Stronghold Gym, Raina truly does it all. As she reflects on her upcoming graduation, she has nothing but positive things to say about the University of South Carolina and the experience she has had here.
She believes being an athlete while attending school has helped her to grow, both on and off the field. She remembers being a freshman soccer player at the very bottom of the totem pole, which came as a huge shock after being the best at her craft her entire life. She laughs as she reflects on her most embarrassing moment, when she started her first USC soccer game and had to be taken out after 4 minutes because she was so out of shape. Rather than making excuses for her poor performance, Raina took it as motivation to work harder. She says the best thing about being a student athlete is seeing how much you can improve yourself as a person and how hard you are capable of working. She says it is not the normal college experience, but she wouldn’t trade it for the world because of how rewarding it is.
Speaking to Raina’s resilient personality, she describes her biggest accomplishment as her junior year in soccer. She was a leader on the team as they headed into the Elite 8 for the first time in program history. This is quite the feat considering they had many “thunderbolts,” which is what the team chooses to call things that work against them. These thunderbolts included major injuries and the death of their beloved team psychologist.
With so much going on, you might assume that Raina let her grades suffer at some point during her undergraduate career. This is certainly not the case, as Raina has been on the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years of college. When asked how she balances soccer, school, and work, Raina says that she had to learn the hard way after overcommitting junior year. She now focuses on priority management rather than time management, which means she gives three things her undivided attention rather than completing six things just to have them done. She says the Athletic Department has helped her a lot with this, and she is grateful for all of their help with learning how to best manage her time.
As Raina moves on to bigger and better things, she leaves us with some parting words of wisdom. Raina encourages each undergraduate student to use their time in college to develop their mindset. Grow and become a better person. “The state of your life is just a reflection of the state of your mind,” she says. What wise words from a soon-to-be Gamecock alumna.