Mandie Michaels

Hello everyone! My name is Amanda Michaels, but I go by Mandie. I live in Milton, Georgia, and attend Milton High School. I will be a senior in the fall, with an interest in journalism and media production. I have always loved to creatively write, whether it be fiction stories, school papers, or just what I am feeling in the moment, and feel that I can write better than I can speak. I do not have a lot of experience in journalism, but what sparked my interest was a class I took in my junior year called AP Seminar. In AP Seminar, we had numerous projects and papers on different topics of interests, which allowed me to choose whatever I wanted to write about and dive deeper into unknown subjects. Although it was very stressful, it ended up being my favorite class.

I have played tennis since I was 7, starting in Long Island, New York. However, Long Island was not huge on tennis, and I rarely played until I moved to Milton in 2015. From there, my neighborhood had tennis lessons from Wes Adams, who is still my coach to this day. I have played numerous leagues including ALTA, USTA and T2, and played on my high school JV team my freshman and sophomore year. I still play club tennis, and volunteer to teach at my mom’s tennis academy for older women. Tennis has always been a huge part of my family life, and I hope to attend a college where I can play club tennis and continue it further.

Whenever I have free time, I usually will be with my friends, either playing video games, shopping, or getting food. I have two cats, Bruce and Cookie, whom I have had since I lived in New York. I also have a sister, Megan, who is 14 and entering high school this year. She is one of my best friends, and we always do everything together. My mom and dad are the people who inspire me the most, and are also some of my best friends. That might sound lame, but my family really is great. Whenever I am busy, it is usually because of my job. I work as a hostess and a busser at Campania, a small Italian restaurant. My favorite thing about working there is the people, who I probably talk to more than I actually work.

UGA has always been one of my top picks for college ever since I moved to Georgia. But, even if I do not get in, I know everything happens for a reason and there is a college out there for me!