Sturgis' Aubrey Mealor a good fit for Glen Oaks
Sturgis senior Aubrey Mealor knows where she’s headed to college now.
That decision came last week when she signed on to continue her academic and softball careers with Glen Oaks Community College next year. Mealor said she’s excited for the new opportunity and looking forward to her final few months as a high school student as well.
“It’s comforting to know where I’m going — it’s close to home for me so I won’t have to do any at-school housing and it will help me financially as well,” she said. “Knowing where I am going to school makes life a lot less stressful right now. Some of my friends are getting their things around for college, writing essays and all that. But for me, it’s all done and I’m good.”
Glen Oaks softball coach Michael Slancik said he’s looking forward to getting Mealor on campus.
“When we first talked, we had a great phone conversation and obviously as you can see, she has a great personality,” Slancik said. “We brought her in and connected immediately, put her through some drills to see how she comprehended on things I wanted to see. She picked it up immediately and I knew this was a kid I wanted on the team.”
Mealor finds herself roaming center field for Sturgis during softball games. She will probably play there again this coming spring, but staying in one position is not a demand from her.
“Honestly, I will play anywhere they want me to. I’m shooting for center field again this year because I find I have the most passion to play in that position,” Mealor said. “But I can play multiple positions and that’s a good asset of mine. If I haven’t played a position a lot, I feel like I can pick it up pretty fast, so I can take a spot if needed. I will play anywhere they want me to.”
Slancik said his program is looking to recruit kids that can play multiple positions as well. He’s also a fan of student-athletes who are willing to help the team at all costs.
“She is going to help us. We are taking kids from all over and they may play a position in high school and not play that for us,” Slancik said. “But the truth of the matter is someone might be a little better than them at a certain position. So we are looking to fit kids in the best positions possible and she is going to help us.”
Mealor has a solid support system of family and friends. She credits mom, grandma and her dad as being big drivers of helping her succeed as they each push her to be the best she can be.
During her time in college, Mealor wants to study criminal psychology. The criminal mind is something that interests her at the highest levels, so she is going to follow that interest.
“Just to be able to study criminals and their behaviors, I find that the mental aspect of things is interesting, the chemicals in the brain are so different for everybody,” she said. “Sure, criminals are bad, but I want to help in finding an understanding of how things happen and how we can prevent those things from happening in the future.”
College won’t be easy and Mealor understands that. It’s all a challenge, but it’s something she is looking forward to.
“In college, you gotta step up and work hard, do it yourself because this is all on you,” she said. “But the more I study criminology, the more it interests me so I’m looking forward to that. It seems like something that is super fun to learn about.”
While her collegiate journey is still months away, there is time to prepare for Mealor.
“I will miss my friends and teachers, mostly because there is a sense here of it being one big community,” she said. “You know everybody here, at least I feel I know who everybody is. Now, taking that next step there might be some uncomfortability. So I think it’s going to be a whole different aspect than high school for me.”
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis' Aubrey Mealor a good fit for Glen Oaks