Hello Centenary Gymnastics fans! This is senior Kaity Mussio, and I welcome you to the year's first Gym Talk! The whole team is back on campus with the first week of classes starting this past Monday. Summer was an exciting and productive time, with many of our teammates traveling, working and training. Ashley, Mackenzie, Liz and myself all had the opportunity to travel internationally for our module in May, with Liz and Ashley going to Denmark, Mackenzie going to Australia, and myself going to Taiwan and China. These were once in a lifetime adventures and we are so privileged to be able to partake in these study abroad experiences through Centenary's intercultural initiatives.
When I got back from my travel in Asia, I went to Baton Rouge for a summer biomedical research program at LSU. This was a phenomenal experience, and I learned a lot and made many new friends. My summer wrapped up with a quick trip back home to Michigan, and a trip to California to visit one of my best friends and to look at some grad schools!
After an eventful summer, I'm very excited to be back at Centenary and embark on my senior year! Our four first year gymnasts (Dorothy, Si-Si, Jerrica, and Jenny) also had an international experience this August when they went to Paris for the Centenary in Paris program - all of our first-year students travel to Paris for their first educational experience of college! This trip is a highlight of the Centenary experience and our gymnasts along with their entire incoming class had a great time in Paris to kick off their college careers. Reminiscing on my Paris experience my first year makes me wish I could have been a first-year student again so I could go back to Paris!! But no, it's time for me to be a senior - I can't believe how the time has flown by! Ashley, my fellow senior on the team, and I always say it feels like yesterday we were embarking on our college experience. I will tell anyone to make sure they savor every moment because before you know it you're a senior getting ready to graduate!
Before we can get to the graduation part of it, we have a full year ahead of us and our team is zoned in on our goals. We set high standards for ourselves before we left for the summer, so we're ready to train hard in preparation for our best season yet. I can't wait to get back in the gym and work out with my teammates. If you didn't already know, our team also performs in the classroom and we had eight gymnasts make the Dean's list last semester! Our coach has a special dinner for the dean's list students each semester, and last night we all got together to celebrate our success in the classroom, and plan to have another great year academically as we start our first week of classes on a great note. We were lucky enough to be joined by our esteemed President, Dr. Holoman and Mrs. Holoman for our celebration. It was so exciting to have them both take time to come to honor us and our dedication to academics!
Please stay tuned throughout the year because we will keep you up to date on Centenary Gymnastics news through these Gym Talks! I wish everyone all the best as we begin the 2017-2018 season, and be on the lookout for our team reaching new heights this year. 
Much love,
Kaity
