Hello. My name is Kara Dysert. I am writing to give you a little background about me, my family and experiences, and why I am Ohio Northern.
My parents are Ken and Bridgette Dysert. My dad graduated from Ada High School where he played basketball. He is the Lima city President for Citizens National Bank. My mom is from Indianapolis. She is a social worker at St. Rita's Medical Center. I have a younger brother named Brandon who is a student at Rhodes State College. My family moved to Ada the summer before my freshman year.
I graduated from Ada High School in 2008. I feel that my greatest accomplishment academically in high school was graduating with a 3.98 GPA-I had one B in four years. My greatest accomplishment in sports was breaking the all time rebounding record my senior year. I am especially proud of this because my dad holds the rebounding record for the boys and my goal was always to bypass his mark. I am also the second leading scorer at Ada. I was the first for awhile until Morgan Dumbaugh (my teammate now) broke my record her senior year. I received numerous awards in high school-the best being named 3rd Team All Ohio my junior year.
Playing college basketball has always been a goal of mine. I visited several schools throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan before deciding on ONU. I chose ONU because of its academic reputation, small class sizes, and because I wanted the opportunity to play in the fiercest DIII conference in the country, the OAC! Also, my parents have been my biggest supporters and it was important to me that they be able to watch me play. My first year at ONU was a learning experience. I think the game is a lot faster and way more physical. I also had to learn how to balance my time so I could maintain my grades and still give it my best in basketball. We were a young team but had several highlights like key wins over Capital and BW last year. I was also named OAC Freshman of the Year. This season, I want us to place at the top of the conference. We definitely have the players to do so. We are even younger than last year, but we are so motivated, competitive, aggressive and UNITED! We are the POLAR BEAR NATION!
When I'm not studying, practicing or working, I like to hang out with my friends, watch movies and sleep. One thing that some people might not know about me is that my nick name is "Bear". How fitting for an ONU Polar Bear! I have been called this ever since I can remember. I have a huge collection of stuffed bears. My favorite one is an old brown one with a mis-shapen head and faded fur named..."Bear"! He has attended every basketball game I have ever played in from 4th grade through my first year at ONU. .
