{"id":75383,"date":"2016-12-15T16:20:30","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T21:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=75383"},"modified":"2023-03-08T13:34:40","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T18:34:40","slug":"rosen-graduates-resilience-puts-path-become-pioneer-esports-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/rosen-graduates-resilience-puts-path-become-pioneer-esports-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosen Graduate’s Resilience Puts Her on Path to Become Pioneer in eSports Events"},"content":{"rendered":"
When Kaley Klingler was a child, she wanted to become a veterinarian or anthropologist. She even made plans to build a theme park called Animal World that would have the world’s largest vet hospital attached to it.<\/p>\n
But sometimes, she found, things get in the way of dreams \u2013 such as experiencing difficulties being away from home, adjusting to college life, living out of your car temporarily, and working multiple jobs to stay out of debt.<\/p>\n
Her renewed focus and hard work will pay off Friday morning, however, when she graduates from the 海角直播\u2019s Rosen College of Hospitality Management with a bachelor\u2019s degree in the field she eventually discovered and fell in love with: event management.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve had quite a ride over the last five and a half years,\u201d said Klingler, 23. \u201cSome of my time was not the brightest point in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Klingler graduated from high school in Indialantic and said that at UCF \u201cstepping onto the main campus that was the size of a city really brought me a lot of different perspectives and a broader view of the world. Everything was like a culture shock and trying to keep up with being an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being on her own the first year away from home, however, was difficult to adjust to and she said she struggled with college classes.<\/p>\n
She switched to Valencia College, where she earned her AA and where she said she had time to figure out what she really wanted to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve run quite a few races [nine half marathons, a full marathon and smaller distances]. I really loved the atmosphere there and started to think about how it would be to plan events like that,\u201d she said. \u201cI came back to UCF through Rosen…I loved it and the smaller campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Klingler credits Vanessa Cogswell, assistant director of student services and director of the college\u2019s Peer Outreach Mentoring Program, with putting her on the path to graduation.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is one of the most giving people I’ve met on\u00a0the campus,\u201d Klingler said. \u201cShe had a support program called POMP that really made me feel like there were people to talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the joy of returning to UCF was met soon by other new hurdles unrelated to school.<\/p>\n
She found someone online to move in with, but after giving the woman a security deposit and first month\u2019s rent, her new roommate said she had been fired from her job. A week later the woman moved but did not return any deposits. Since Klingler\u2019s name wasn\u2019t on the lease and she couldn\u2019t afford the place on her own, the next six months she lived out of her car and sometimes at friends\u2019 places, all the while working two jobs and attending classes.<\/p>\n