Aug 25 2022
Bravery at its Finest
Nienke van Drunen is a Dutch student-athlete, who majors in Criminal Justice at Morningside University. Now living on the other side of the globe, she leaves her friends and family back home in Zwolle, the Netherlands. In addition to her parents, she keeps in close contact weekly with her 3 sisters, and one younger brother. While more than 4000 miles separates her and her family, she has to miss out on their annual tradition where the entire family of her mom’s side rents a huge house together in Drenthe, the Netherlands, for a long weekend. Here they could do all of Nienke’s hobbies which include spending time with her family, traveling and sports in general, especially volleyball.
As said earlier, Nienke is a student-athlete. She is a middle blocker for the Morningside Mustang’s volleyball team. Using her incredible 6″1, she blocks opponent’s aggressive smashes on the defensive end while also scoring points for the team in the attacking fase. While volleyball is clearly her passion, she also has a soft spot for traveling. Her favorite travels from the past include Croatia, Canada and Norway. One of Nienke’s three tattoos even includes a globe, showing her passion for traveling, while the compass in the tattoo illustrates the fact that she can always find her way home. This tattoo also includes two arrows through the globe. It holds the fact that on a bow and arrow, you have to pull the arrow back in order to release it forward. In other words, aspects of life will have to go backwards first, before being able to move forward.
While Nienke moved across the globe, has multiple tattoos sharing thoughtful stories, blocking painful smashes as a daily work, she still is afraid of tiny butterflies, showing how every brave person still has its limits.