Welcome back to Card Essentials, where Stanford student-athletes share the stories behind the items they carry with them every day, big or small. In today's edition, we caught up with Stanford Softball pitcher Alana Vawter. A senior majoring in Management Science & Engineering, Vawter is heading in to the postseason and took some time to share her everyday essentials with us.
GoStanford.com: "You have a resistance band here. When do you use that?"
Alana Vawter: "I actually grabbed that the last time I went home, and have kept it in my bag since. I don't really need it here, because our trainer Amanda [Brown] gets us right, but it's nice to have when I'm traveling and going back and forth between home for breaks."
GS: "What purpose does each notebook serve?"
AV: "My green notebook is for every single class. A lot of my classes I can't take notes on my computer, so I hand write in this journal. My "A" notebook is my personal journal, kind of a diary, that I'll write gratitudes, or just my internal thoughts in whenever I need to get some words out."
GS: "What is the significance of the butterfly sticker on your water bottle?"
AV: "We actually got them for mental health awareness. Obviously Stanford Athletics is really passionate about it, and the Softball team is as well. A few of us still wear our green ribbon because we think it's an important message we can still use our platform for."
GS: "What is the story behind this Stanford and Duke shirt?"
AV: "It's the ACE program, Athletes in Civil Engagement. I have an ACE keychain as well. It's a program I'm a part of, in 2021 I was a part of the ACE in Place program with Thailand. I have really enjoyed my time with the program, it's a three week immersive civic engagement experience. They usually take five Stanford students and five Duke students and combine with an overseas partner. This year I am going to South Africa with the program. I just keep a shirt on me at all times because you never know what your outfit is going to look like for the day. We're getting ready for the summer program, and I am an ambassador so I'm always thinking of ways to get other people involved to share the experience with them."
GS: "What is this keychain with your car key?"
AV: "Long story short, I lost my spare key for my car. My parents come almost every weekend when we're playing at home and use my car. My mom got the little bat with the Stanford logo at the book store and put it on there so it would be easier to find my car key."
Follow Alana on Twitter and Instagram.