My name is Jordan Ndeli and I am currently a first year student at The Ohio State University. I’m a Pre Athletic Training major and in the future I plan on being an athletic trainer for either a professional sports team of a Division I university. I grew up around sports, starting softball when I was seven years old and attending baseball games with my parents whenever we could. By the time I got to high school I started throwing shot put for my school’s track team. This connection with athletics is what drew me immediately to the Dunn Sports and Wellness Scholars program because I saw it as a way to continue surrounding myself in an environment that I love being in.
Besides sports, I love going to New York City, which was made easy for me seeing as I lived just a 40 minute drive away in Sayreville, New Jersey. I would oftentimes find myself going into “The City” with a group of friends to go to a museum or Central Park, not realizing how privileged I was to live so close. Because of this, I found myself looking for colleges that were in a city so I would still be able to live in an area where I wouldn’t get bored or run out of things to do. Columbus, Ohio ended up being the perfect city and The Ohio State University the perfect school.
During middle and high school, I spent my summers volunteering at a local camp called Sayreville BIC. Sayreville BIC is a program for both kids and adults with disabilities (both learning and developmental) that strives to mend the bridge in our community between those who are disabled and those who are able-bodied. Though at first I was skeptical of dedicating my entire summer to being a camp counselor, as I spent more time with the program and became more comfortable, I realized that I was beginning to love it as well as the people who are apart of it. In my years of volunteering, I have made countless close friends that I otherwise would have never been able to meet, much less grow so close with.
Overall, I enjoy whatever it is that I’m doing as long as I’m surrounded by the people that I love. My friends and family are extremely important to me. My mom works for a non-profit called YAI and my dad is a New York State court officer. I have an older brother, Julian, and a dog named Reggie Jackson who I’ll miss dearly while I’m attending Ohio State.
At the end of the day, however, I’m extremely excited to finally be a Buckeye and I look forward to all of the opportunities that are to come. Go Bucks!!