Lisa-Maria Markua
By: Caia Bevins
Lisa-Maria has recently been crowned the 2022 Homecoming Queen. When I sat down and talked with the senior, she said that she had actually just ran for homecoming queen for fun. She had been nominated by her friend and decided to go for it and see what happened.
From listening to her, she certainly did not expect to be selected but was grateful for the opportunity and for all the people that supported her. She will graduate with a degree in Exercise Science and Psychology in a few short months. Her goal is to become a physical therapist. Even with two degrees, instead of describing herself as academic or studious, she described herself as hilarious.
Lisa-Maria said that she likes to have fun and live life to its fullest because you only have one. She also admitted to laughing at her own jokes, which we all know is the best kind of person. From talking with her, she also seemed very optimistic about life. She talked about how important it was for her not to take herself too seriously and just enjoy all the things life throws at her. She said that ” I like being happy. I know life happens, and people go through things, but also, life is too short to be sad and be hung up on things because, you never know, this could be your last day. You can’t predict the future.”
Lisa-Maria is one of the only international students on campus and hails from Berlin, Germany, which for context, is over four thousand miles away. She didn’t come straight to Defiance College. She stopped in Cape Coral, Florida as a foreign exchange student when she was sixteen and started College there before transferring to Defiance College. In fact, she considered her move from Berlin to Florida, and subsequently Ohio, as one of her greatest achievements in life.
She also said, “I’m sort of living my dad’s dream, I guess, and I love that dream for myself as well.” When asked whether she thought she would go back, she said she had “built up so much here that I don’t think that I see myself going back.” Since leaving Berlin and beginning her life here in America, she was able to separate herself from her family and truly figure out the kind of person she wanted to be and achieve that. While talking about Defiance College specifically, she said that her time here had really helped her grow as a person and made her more responsible.
It also taught her self-discipline when it came to getting things done and prioritizing what’s important over things that aren’t as important. She also said that her experience of moving to the United States as a foreign exchange student in her junior year helped her grow up and become very self-reliant because she was so far from her family. However, it was time that she seemed to look back on fondly and enjoyed the opportunity to become her own person.
Lisa-Maria is a RA in Whitney Hall and works at the Smart Center on Campus. She is also a part of the Service Leadership Program, the Campus Activities Board, and the 2022-2023 Defiance College Track and Field Team. The schedule for this season isn’t posted yet, but make sure to support our Track and Field team as they compete in the spring semester.
