Sarah Tucker's ENT Blog: My Introduction

Hello,

My name is Sarah Tucker. I grew up in Pensacola, Florida and when I'm not residing in the great gator nation, I live in Jacksonville, Florida. I am a General Studies Business Administration major with a specialization in sports management. My ultimate goal is to work in the business world of the National Football League. I have a huge passion for football. I can't quite pinpoint when it started, but I know it hasn't stopped. I am a huge New England Patriots fan. Tom Brady went to Michigan, as did my dad, and that is where my infatuation started. Until the age of 14, I was dead set on going to Michigan like my dad had, but then he taught me what "in-state tuition" meant and it was off to Gainesville I go. My family make up is an interesting one. Biologically, I have a mom, a dad, and a younger brother. Legally, I have a step-mom and a younger sister. In my heart, I have another mom and an older sister.

So let me back up a little. When my parents were expecting me, they hired a nanny named Eloise. She had a daughter named Tiffany, or Tiff. Eloise and Tiff have been in my life from the day I was born. I started calling Ms. Eloise "mama" and to a young child, mama's daughter would be her sister, so Tiff became my sister too. Ms. Eloise raised me. I wrote my college essay on her. When I was 3, my younger brother, Allan, was born. Ms. Eloise took care of him, too, and still does. My parents got divorced when I was about 12, and when I was 17 my dad married my step mom, Fran. They had been dating for a long time, so it wasn't a huge adjustment having her in the family. Before they had started dating, Fran had filed to adopt a little girl from China. My dad was on board and in 2011, they went to China and got my youngest sister, Anne. Anne is a sparkplug. When she was younger, I wanted her to be just like Lily from "Modern Family," and my wish has certainly come true.

My family is probably one of the most important things to me. Not just the family I described above, but also my extended family. I have countless aunts and uncles and cousins that I visit and keep in touch with as much as possible. I like to say I work very hard to maintain the relationships that I have with family I could have very easily let go by the wayside.

Sports has always been a huge part of my life. I've been playing sports since I was 5 years old. I started with soccer, like most kids do. I moved on to softball at age 10. After I took a line drive to the leg, I declared my softball days over. Middle school was my true "jock" phase. I played basketball, swam, and ran track. My dad likes to joke that although the boys may not have wanted to date me, they did want me to play all time quarterback. When high school came around, I thought my focus would be basketball for the next 4 years (I had grown 10 inches in three years, and I was coming into freshman year at 5'10.) My JV basketball coach was also the varsity volleyball coach. She encouraged me to tryout, and it was volleyball from then on. I left high school at 6'1 and haven't grown since. College intramurals have allowed me to keep pursuing my passion of sports, while also having the opportunity to dip my hand in sports I hadn't played before, including but not limited to flag football.

The next biggest thing someone should know about me is where I have spent the last 3 summers. Growing up, I went to a Jewish overnight camp in Utica, Mississippi. I was a camper there for 4 years. When the camp came to Pensacola to market the summer, I realized I wanted to go back. I was hired as a counselor and returned for two more after that. This summer, I will be at camp as a unit head, a position I am very excited about. Camp was the first place I went where I knew I was good at what I was doing, and other people saw that I was good at what I was doing, too.