written by Jaylan Hayes
While Madison Mills may have been born and lived in Cleveland, Ohio for the first 10 years of her life it's not where Mills considers home. Her home is in Jacksonville, Florida and she defiantly prefers the warm weather and beaches. Two years ago, she made the decision to attend Augusta University.
Mills knew AU was the right fit for her because of its proximity to home.
"I didn't know about Augusta before. But it ended up having all the stuff I was looking for. I didn't want to stay really close to home because I wanted to have the independence of being by myself. It's the perfect distance away," said Mills.
Not knowing anyone here was the fresh start she was looking for. Another selling point for Mills was the track team and nursing program. She didn't want the pressure of a D1 school due to her academic choice of a nursing major.
Mills comes from a family of medical professionals. Her dad is a doctor, and her mom and sister are nurses and she always knew she'd follow in her family's footsteps. While she has found some classes to be challenging, specifically anatomy, it's been manageable for her so far.
Mills knows more challenges will come when she becomes part of the nursing program and will have a stricter schedule and harder classes. She's aware most people give up their sport to focus on the academics but she's not sure she wants to do that.
"I'm going to try to stick with track. I like working out and I like being on the track team. Without it I don't know what I would do so I'm going to try and stay on this team," said Mills.
Mills favorite event in track and field is long jump. She's been doing it since she started the sport. She does wish that if she could go back in time to give herself some advice it would be to try more events in track just to see if she would have liked them.
Since she's usually busy with practice or school, when she can, Mills loves to hang out with her friends, watch movies, or read a book. She also loves listening to music, she's almost always got her headphones in.
"I wouldn't say I have a favorite artist or song. There's too many to choose from and it changes weekly," said Mills.
She doesn't want to stay in one place for too long once she graduates, it's why she loves traveling and wants to become a travel nurse. Her favorite places she's been to have probably been Jamaica and London. Her top places she wants to go to are Japan and Amsterdam.
With a sister who's three years older and both were doing track there was a competitive nature between the two. While there may have been some sisterly competition between the two, one of Mill's happiest memories involves the two of them.
"I ran in a relay with my sister her last year in high school and it was my last time running with her. It's one of my happier memories," she said.
She doesn't know where her future is going to take her, and she's applied to different nursing programs as a precaution to have a couple backup plans. Mills is hoping everything works out but doesn't want to put too much pressure on herself to decide everything now.
Mills is naturally a quieter person and that might keep some people away. But she's a genuine person and if someone wants to talk to her, she's always happy to have a conversation.
Track and field schedule
