Senior Spotlight: Setter Dana Schindler

An interview conducted on Wednesday with Dana Schindler, a senior on the volleyball team.

Kole: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Dana: My name is Dana Schindler. I graduated with my undergraduate degree in management, I’m currently in the Masters of Business Administration program, and I’m from Chaska, Minn.

K: What are three words to describe yourself

D: Outgoing, friendly and organized.

K: What are some of the most important things to you in life?

D: My family is the most important thing in my life. I spend a lot of time with them. My faith and my friends and volleyball are also extremely important.

K: Who inspires you to be the best version of yourself?

D: My mom. She’s very giving and caring, but she’s also very independent and motivated, so she makes me want to be a better person.

K: What kind of sports were you involved in growing up?

D: I was involved in volleyball, basketball and softball. But once I got to high school, my focus shifted to volleyball.

K: What is your favorite part about playing volleyball and your favorite part about being on the team at MSU?

D: My favorite part about playing volleyball is the team aspect. You definitely can’t be successful on your own. It takes everybody in the program to be successful. And that’s my favorite part about MSU specifically is the girls and the coaches and staff we have. We have great relationships and we care about each other on and off the court, which makes it a lot of fun.

K: What made you stick with volleyball over other sports?

D: I gravitated towards volleyball because of the competitive nature. You can’t win a match in one point. You kind of always have the opportunity to battle and come back, so it’s really competitive.

K: Is that what made you pick it over other sports?

D: My older sister played volleyball, and she actually also played in the NSIC conference as well. So growing up, I always looked up to her. I wanted to do everything she did, so that was probably what pushed me towards volleyball more than anything.

K: Has volleyball always been your number one choice or were there more sports?

D: I wish I would have stuck with basketball a little longer. I only played for a year or so in high school, so I do miss basketball, but volleyball was always my number one, and I don’t have any regrets about it.

K: What are your goals for this upcoming season as a person and as a team as a whole.

D: As a team, we’re really looking to finish in the top of the conference. We have not finished as high in the past as we are definitely capable of. And with the two new classes coming in, the freshmen and the sophomores, they bring a lot of new athletic ability as well as motivation and drive. Individually, with this being my last year, I want to leave with no regrets knowing that every day, every game we played our best, we gave it our all like we stuck together as a team. I just want to look back and be proud and thankful for the time here.

K: Coming out of college, what is your dream?

D: I’m hoping to finish my MBA after next fall. From there, I really enjoyed the human resource side of things. So looking for a position potentially as an HR generalist, I want to get my kind of get a feel for the different areas of HR, whether it’s like compensation, benefits, recruiting, talent acquisition.

K: Do you want to continue your future with volleyball at some point, or are you just looking to move on?

D: Would definitely pursue coaching in the future. I’ve coached a little bit in the past, and I definitely love volleyball enough to step into a coaching position. I don’t have plans to, though.