St. Ed’s senior Victoria Bradford has formally committed to attend St. Michael’s College in Vermont, where she will pursue academics and athletics in a setting she longs to return to. The official signing took place before a gathering of family, friends and faculty on Feb. 7.
Bradford was born in Massachusetts and enrolled at St. Ed’s as a freshman after her family moved to Vero Beach from Fort Pierce. She will play volleyball at St. Michael’s and decided on a curriculum after taking a psychology class this year that sparked a fascination in that subject.
“We moved to Vero when we saw what an amazing school St. Edward’s is,” Bradford said. “I’ve loved it since the day I started here. After graduation I always wanted to go to school back in the New England area. Florida is way too hot for me. I love the snow and change of seasons. The skiing and snowboarding in Vermont is amazing. I went to the Burlington area for a visit and fell in love with it.”
St. Michael’s is a liberal arts college with about 2,000 undergraduate students. The small campus size was appealing to Bradford, as was the aesthetic location. Those factors were enormous, but the clincher was the opportunity to play volleyball for a Division II college program.
“On a visit to St. Michael’s the (volleyball) coach watched my videos. He liked my skills and the way I acted on the court. Their starting libero will be graduating this year and he said that while nothing is written in stone, I’m probably going to be the starting libero right away.
“I met my teammates on a second trip to the campus. There was a sense of family there that really drew me in. That’s how and why I made my decision. The volleyball season is in the fall so I will probably get to school in early August for practice, but the date hasn’t been set yet.”
Participation in organized team sports took off early for Bradford when she started playing on middle-school teams and was the beneficiary of guidance from one coach in particular.
“My dad has been coaching me since I was in the fifth grade. He was my volleyball coach in middle school when I played two sports at once. He was even an assistant coach for my basketball team here at St. Edward’s.
“This has definitely been a family affair, including my brother and sister. Athletics has always been deeply ingrained in me and I could never imagine not playing a sport.”
True to form, Bradford has been quite busy on the sports scene at St. Ed’s. After beginning with the swim team in ninth grade, she rowed and played varsity basketball for two seasons in ninth and 10th grade. She took up weightlifting as a senior and will finish her high-school athletic career on the tennis team this spring. But there is no doubt that volleyball was the sport she majored in.
Her academic track crystallized just this year when she took a psychology course. The plan is to weave that into a career path while continuing to develop an already proven talent as an artist. Her work has been displayed in several galleries, including the Vero Beach Museum of Art.
“I knew I always wanted to major in science, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be biology or a medical field. But this year I took a psychology course and absolutely fell in love with the subject. I want to go into forensic science and the criminology field and use psychology as my major.”
Now, despite the yearning to return to New England and utter joy over the Patriots’ Super Bowl comeback win – she admits to turning away in the second quarter – leaving will be bittersweet.
“Even though I didn’t grow up here, this is what I consider my home,” she told us. “This is where my family and friends are. Vero has given me so much, so many memories.
“I will be away from home, but I think home is something inside of you. It doesn’t have to be a place. I’m always going to have a support system here and I’m always going to come back. People in Vermont dream about coming here for spring break, but Vero will always be here for me all the time.
“Leaving is going to be hard and I love Vero, but it’s time for me to move on and take some bigger steps in my life.”
