What does it take for us to call someone “Royal”? Every year, thousands upon thousands of schools across the country come together and try to decide who deserves that title on the Homecoming Court. This year at Saint Vincent College, the senior class came together and made their decision. Five beautiful women and five outstanding men were nominated by majority votes to be the representatives of their class. Each of these ten individuals had to be recognizable enough to have their name recalled, but also well-liked enough to have it written on the ballet. What kind of person has the capability to be so memorable and so valued?
The perfect example of what it takes to make it onto the court is the Vice President of our very own Her Campus chapter at Saint Vincent College, and my sister, Maggie Nelson.
An outstanding student overall, Maggie has met the criteria for Dean’s List (High academic achievement) six times during her career as a Mathematics Major, Education Minor. And she’s definitely put in the work for those achievements! On any given day, you can see Maggie sitting in the Carey Student Center working hard and still sending out smiles to those she knows as they walk through. Sometimes, you might even catch her giving a tour to potential students as a part of her job in the Admissions Office, representing the school by showing her friendly attitude and love for the campus.
On the playing fields, she also represents the Saint Vincent Bearcats! Captain of the Women’s Soccer team this Fall Season, she holds the title of leading scorer as a killer striker. During her Women’s Lacrosse career here, she has really gone above and beyond. Every year so far, she has broken the record for points per season, and we have high hopes that she will break it again this Spring. Last season alone, she broke the Career Points Record, Career Goals Record, Goals per Game Record, Goals in a Season Record, made ORLC All Conference First Team, was ORLC Offensive Player of the Year, ECAC Offensive Player of the Year, and led NCAA D3 Women’s Lacrosse in Points during the season, totaling number two overall in the country. Not to mention that she has been the Bearcat Player of the Week nine times total during her athletic career.
Having Maggie as my older sister and one of my best friends gives me the unique perspective into her life to know just the kind of person she is. In my nineteen years, I have come to know this Homecoming Queen Nominee quite closely. And in all my time knowing her, I have always known her to be well liked, though I could never quite put my finger on what about Maggie it was that drew people in. Now, I believe that it is the honesty and transparency with which she lives her life. Maggie can truly be kind and gentle, but is never afraid to speak her mind and tell the hard truth. She doesn’t mince words and she never holds back, and yet always maintains her friendliness. People aspire to be confident enough to live the way she does, and they seek out her honest opinions and approval. Equally, her ability to pick herself up and move on is astounding. Everyone falls down hard sometimes, but she finds a way to always push through, and even pull her friends through the toughest times.
The most amazing thing to me about Maggie is her accomplishment of having established so many real relationships with so many people. Her name is not recognizable because of her accomplishments, people don’t just know her for the person she is, people know Maggie because she talks to them, shows interest in their lives, and always has a friendly smile and witty humor ready to brighten their days.
No one at Saint Vincent today can go wrong voting for the Maggie Nelson, and the Saint Vincent College Her Campus chapter could not be prouder of their amazing Vice President.
HCXO,
Caroline