On paper, I have been very successful in my career path and in life. I got hired by a great company while I was still finishing my college degree, I was sought after to come back to GNA to coach only months after I finished my collegiate season, I bought my first house before I was 25, and I’ve competed at a national level for different sports: Division I in field hockey, and Division III in field hockey and swimming, and USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. However, my path to reach a lot of those goals was not so clear cut. In fact, almost all of it was never the plan.
I was a stand-out student athlete at GNA, and that led me to my dream school of Lock Haven University to continue my education and field hockey career at a Division I program. Unfortunately, due to a relationship that put me in an unsafe position, I had to give up my dream and return home. This was the first time I had to shift my focus on my views of success. I went to Wilkes because of how well-known they were for their science programs, but I struggled immensely academically; I nearly failed out of school one semester. Top that with three different season-ending injuries, and my life felt like it was in complete shambles. Everything I thought I knew about myself was in question. The only thing I knew was that I couldn’t quit on myself.
While I didn’t do the best in the classroom, I made sure I was actually learning the material inside and out, even if it took me longer to learn it. I made myself marketable, learning other skills that would be useful to employers. And finally, it seemed like things were coming together when I was waking up from knee surgery: I turned my phone on, and had a missed call from USPS offering me a full-time position. At that moment, I felt like I could take on anything and still come out the other side.
I’m very community-minded, and I think you should give back, if you can. I have always loved serving my community, even from my time in high school. Currently, I am involved with some really great organizations: I am a board member for the Back Mountain Trail’s NYE 5K, and in our first year, we raised over $20,000 in support of our local trail system. I am also on the board for Strive Triathlon and Back Mountain Triathlon, which looks to raise funds through racing for local charities, highlighting the Back Mountain Trail as the main beneficiary. I volunteer my time with Wyoming Valley Striders, Valley Santa, Hometown Heroes 5K, and the West Side Playground Association. I have found myself in various roles that are all critical to the success of each organization’s goals, whether it’s through some of the fun activities, like social media management and content creation, soliciting donations, and handing out awards, or some of the less glamorous stuff, like filing paperwork, marking out race courses, handing out water, or just being a body on race day. There’s always a role that needs to be filled, and never enough people to go around!
I want to tell today’s youth that when it comes to your future, it’s okay to go all in on something, watch it fall apart, and have no back-up plan. If it all works out, then you’ve found your success; if it doesn’t, then that’s when the journey really starts–when you have to redefine what success means to you. That’s when you’ll find out a whole lot more about yourself. You’re never a failure for giving your all into something and having it not working out. It makes it a whole lot easier to sleep at night to say that you did everything you possibly could, to the best of your abilities, for all that you do in life.
Kayla Gronkowski, 2014
Computer Programmer / Systems Analyst, USPS
Assistant Field Hockey Coach, Greater Nanticoke Area
Union Steward, APWU Local 7067
