Feb. 9, 2011
Ellen Morrison knows college life’s ups and downs. She should, she has lived them.
She came to Vanderbilt from the Midwest nearly four years ago as a heralded bowling prospect and budding engineering student. She will graduate in May after playing a significant role with the Commodores and carrying a degree in political science. Her education came in-between Points A and B.
“You have expectations coming out of high school,” Morrison recalls. “Maybe I was naïve and college life just hit me at once. I think I became overwhelmed because engineering wasn’t at all what I expected. I just didn’t have the passion for it.”
Meanwhile, her classroom struggles might have affected her performance on the bowling lanes. Arriving as the 2007 Denny’s All-American champion, a major national tournament, Ellen was thrust into the Vanderbilt lineup for the first part of the season but soon she found herself struggling here, too.
The Winnebago, Ill., native took an interesting internship after her freshman year.
“I worked in the laboratory of the United States Bowling Congress,” Morrison says, “and really enjoyed the experience. There were a number of things we did in the lab that related to engineering so I thought perhaps I had misjudged things and when I started my sophomore year I jumped back into engineering classes, thinking things would click.”
They didn’t.
“I had a new perspective my second year and certainly more motivation but I got back and soon realized that I could not make myself love engineering,” Morrison remembers. “So I changed majors to political science the spring of my sophomore year.”
It was then that life began to turn for the better. Morrison used one of Vanderbilt’s many career resources, an on-line networking site, and found herself communicating with Margaret Horn, an alumnus who was working in the Tennessee Governor’s office.
“Margaret became a valuable advisor and encouraged me to apply for an unpaid internship in the Governor’s legislative department,” she says. “These positions are pretty competitive so I was surprised and happy to land one.”
The internship was interesting and led to more. Not only did her poly sci classes become more interesting and her grades improve but, in her words, “bowling started to get better”.
The political science bug bit hard and Ellen started working on the campaign staff for Mike McWhorter, Tennessee’s Democratic candidate for governor.
“I worked in the fund-raising department last spring for class credit,” Morrison says. “I did donor research, some administrative tasks and even attended a few events. It was early in the campaign and there were only a handful of us in the department. I ended up staying on the campaign through a good part of the summer.”
Flash forward to the present. Morrison says “things are falling in place.” She has completed requirements for her political science degree with a communications minor. And bowling has come around, too.
“I have learned from our coach (John Williamson) that everyone on a good team has a role to play. Even though you might not be playing a lot, you still have an impact on the success of the team. This is something important I can take with me in my career.”
“I am really proud of Ellen,” Williamson says. “She has shown a resiliency to overcome disappointments and she has become what I always felt she could be – a winner on and off the bowling lanes. She has made a difference on our team and she will be a difference maker in life.”
Beyond her graduation this May, Morrison is looking for a job in the wide world of politics. She sees a future desire for a master’s degree in public policy but wants to take a year or two off before starting back to the classroom.
For now, all that can wait. There are more classes and a bowling tournament coming up and another after that and another after that. One class at a time, one tournament at a time, one step at a time. Ellen Morrison’s life improves and education continues.
