Today, you are about to embark on a wild journey; the life of Rowan Edmonds.

I was born in Atlanta, Ga, where I lived for two years before moving to Athens. I was a pretty horrible infant, already causing trouble before I could even walk. I was always injuring myself and getting into trouble with the daycare center for biting other children. The terrible behavior finally stopped when we moved to Athens, and something crazy happened; my sister was born. Brayden and I are the two most different people on this planet; however, she and I are incredibly close and are together always when I’m home. We share the same love for practical jokes, rock music from the 70s, and horses.

The first time I ever rode a horse was when I was 4. My aunt took me to the fair where they had pony rides. After a lot of begging, she helped me convince the man behind the counter that I was six years old, and I finally rode my first horse. After that, I was hooked. I started riding in a program about two weeks after that, but only seriously got into it when I was 8. In the 18 years that I have been riding, I had completed over 100 times, had countless 4 am wakeup calls for before school lessons, had some pretty bad falls that resulted in some significant injuries, and won 3 national championships. Back in high school, my sister and I would both take lessons together before and after school, which only added to our closeness. We wanted the best for each other when competing, but if we were in the same division, there was always a little bit of healthy competition. To this day, horses have been a massive part of my life, but it was never the only thing that I did.

I ran cross country throughout middle school and high school and was planning on running in college until my leg injuries. During a race, I tore my Achilles, and instead of stopping, I finished the race with a mile and a half left. After that, my team gave me the nickname “Viking Girl” because I refused to give up. I was taking the proper time and care to nurse my leg back to health and was finally starting to run again when I tore my meniscus in my other leg. Skiing has always been one of my favorite activities, and I was a natural at it. That was until one fateful day when I slightly slipped getting off the ski lift and boom – running career over. Thankfully I was able to continue riding horses, and I would have gone crazy without that in my life.

When I was younger, my dad would always tell me that the best years of his life were during college, and even though I’ve only been at Piedmont for one semester, I can wholeheartedly agree with him. I’m excited about where my journey at Piedmont will take me.