At first glance, Jackie Robbins seems like a robot made for success.
She is the ASB Vice President, a member of the National Honor Society, the FCCLA Secretary, and the student constantly hunched over her books while studying.
She is the first to ask a question when something is unclear in her college-level classes.
She is the Track and Field athlete hurling a brass shot put into the dirt, or the basketball player fighting for a win when snow blurs the windows outside. She is the loyal gym member lifting heavy iron plates whom the front desk lady knows by name now.
On Sundays, she is the girl who plays with the kids in the children’s center at church.
“Jackie always lifts my spirits and is always very nice,” said Annie Matilla.
Robbins is all of these things; talking to her reveals a lot of admirable traits below the surface.
Though Robbins has a seemingly perfect resume, the path to building it was littered with roadblocks and quiet adversities.
Long before she was an honor-roll student mastering college level courses, there was once a time when she was a full year behind her own class.
Growing up, she struggled with dyslexia – a neurobiological disorder that creates an uphill struggle with language skills. The condition makes it extremely difficult to learn to read, write, or remember sequences like dates or spelling.
“That definitely pushed me back,” Robbins said. “I was below all of my other classmates.”
That same frustration did not just stay in the classroom; it followed her onto the field and into the weight room. Because she had to work twice as hard as her peers to manage in school, she became her own harshest critic.
This drive pushed her to incredible success in her athletics and physical fitness journey, but not before it pushed her to criticize herself to the point of exhaustion.
She would often leave practice in tears convinced she was never good enough. However, she feels as if it made her connection with the sport all that more important.
“I couldn’t imagine my life without it,” Robbins said.
As Robbins got older and grew her relationship with Christ, she started to realize that she doesn’t have to be perfect and that she never would be, but she could always put in her best effort for a greater purpose.
“My relationship with God has helped with that because I am starting to find worth in myself,” Robbins said.
This newfound confidence and the realization that she did not have to be perfect helped her navigate a path where people often underestimated her.
In the beginning some treated her as though she couldn’t keep up with her fellow teammates. When Robbins was a freshman she was highly underestimated; no one expected her to advance at districts.
However, she ended up placing second at districts in both of her events. At the state level she secured ninth for discus and eleventh for shot put.
“I kind of like it when people underestimate me,” Robbins said.
Today, Robbins is continuing to thrive. Her athletic performance grows every year and she has big plans to continue them through college. In academics, she plans on studying sports psychology or kinesiology.
With Robbins past experiences, today she is very intentional on including others, giving words of encouragement to those being hard on themselves, and being the helping hand to peers who might be below the standard.
“I’m never going to be perfect, and I never want other people to feel the way that I’ve felt,” Robbins said. “… I always want to bring people in.”
