By Tiana Hines
Published in The Burg September 16, 2021
On September 8th I was able to speak with Lexi Daniels. Lexi is a strong willed woman who sets a goal and then achieves it.
As I was speaking to her I asked her how her college experience was. She said that it was an average experience plus doing basketball. She didn’t feel as if she did anything too crazy or too mundane. She did say that she struggled with her grandparents passing away, but her family was there to make sure that she stayed on track.
Jessica Howard was her coach and role model. When Daniels was younger, she wrote in her journal that she wanted to be just like Howard and play with Coach Massy. Eventually Daniels did! That was a goal she was not expecting to happen.
“If someone were to tell me that I would be working with Coach Massy someday, I wouldn’t believe them.” stated Daniels.
Daniel's relationship with Coach Massy started when she was a freshman. He let them use the gym when they asked and was open to discussion at any time. She still speaks with the girls who were on her team. They help her with her activities for the kids.
She loved playing basketball and she loved her team. Daniels' biggest highlight throughout her basketball career was during a game where she made 10 three point shots during the game. Her second favorite moment for basketball was winning nationals.
“Seeing all of the hard work pay off was amazing.” stated Daniels.
Prior to talking with Daniels I knew that she worked at King Elementary School. I asked
her why she decided to teach at King rather than anywhere else. Daniels smiled and looked around her room before answering. She had gone to King as a child. Daniels missed home while she was in college, thus, she wanted to stay in Galesburg to teach. Lexi is a very genuine person, you can just tell that she loves to work with her students who are in 1st grade. I wondered what she wanted to do before teaching.
“I always wanted to be a teacher.” stated Daniels.
She wanted to teach 3rd grade when she was younger, but she told me that she just loved to be able to be an influence in her younger kids’ lives. She spoke for five minutes as she explained that being a good role model to the younger generation, molding who they are, and giving them the structure that they need is something that she loves to do. Daniels loves taking care of her students. As she was speaking I saw how she was ecstatic to speak about them. Daniels was born to help others. She said that she spent her summer helping kids at summer camps for different activities (basketball, school, etc...). She did spend some down time with her family, but for the majority of the summer she helped kids with Coach Massy.
Daniels is an amazing person to speak with and it was an honor to be able to speak with her.