Abby Heitman, a freshman here at Lakeland, is majoring in Criminal Justice and is a player on the Muskie softball team.

She was a pretty big musician and leader in high school when it came to the music program.

She can play the guitar, piano, drums, trumpet, and French horn. Heitman took any music class that she could and was involved in every drama production, choir concerts, band concerts, recitals, etc. She did all of this while being a member of her high school softball team and was also the Treasurer of NHS.

When asking Abby how her first year went, she replied that overall, it was better than she expected because she didn’t expect to like the independence so much. Being able to control how her day goes is exhilarating and a fun learning experience.

She talked about not being worried about making friends or not having things to do because she knew that softball would give her that. At first, she was worried about the size of the campus but was excited to experience it. After being on campus for a little while, the size felt perfect.

When asked if her expectations were met, she replied, “Yes, 100%! Things that I was worried about didn’t worry me like at all, and the things that I was excited about were better than I expected.”

While also being a member of the softball team, she shared a little bit about her first-year experience. “I don’t ever want to leave the softball team. Thinking about not playing and being here with my team… I don’t know what I would do,” she replied.

Heitman is very grateful for the team chemistry, and there’s no one that she doesn’t want to see out and about around campus. She feels more confident, and it has taught her to have the mindset to just do her own thing. “My time management has improved a lot. It’s a live-and-learn experience – especially with assignments. Sometimes you’re gonna mess up, but that’s okay,” she said.

Finally, she was asked about what her expectations for the future are. She replied, “Academically, I’m a little nervous because I don’t know exactly what I want to do, but Dr. Miofsky said that she would help me figure it out if I don’t know exactly what I want to do. I get really excited to take classes with her because she has been so helpful with everything.”

She expects it to take time, so she said she has to be patient but is excited to take more Criminal Justice classes. She ended by saying that overall, she wants to look at more small things that she can get involved in around campus.