 My name is Ellie McClellan and I am a communication major in the class of 2025 and I've been skating for 13 years now. What got me into figure skating was just watching skating on TV and I told my mom that I wanted to give it a try. So she signed me up for basic skills training and I just fell in love with skating. I would say that U.S. figure skating has an amazing collegiate program. It takes a long time to build up a team in a college and I just thought that I kind of want to be the one to start that. I wanted to start a skating club and just be able to do what I love and continue to get my degree. Again, the figure skating club has been one of my main goals from the get-go and everyone I've been in touch with to help me get it started has just been super encouraging and supportive and I really appreciate that. They just make it really easy. They were super helpful. Togetherness to me is equal to awareness and really feeling connected to the people around you. That being said, I think that Purdue University does an amazing job of fostering an environment that really cherishes inclusivity and diversity and we'll all have at least one thing in common and that is that we are all Boilermakers.