I was born and raised a Midwestern kid in the suburbs of Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Beautiful sunsets and football on Friday nights were nothing short of a normal week in my town. Growing up in Fort Wayne, I learned that making the most of what is around me is what makes me happy.  I value family, friends, and caring for others.  I am the fourth child of a five kid household and was raised by my mother Dana Fanning and my father John Fanning.  My mother is a 35 year Air Force veteran who worked in finance and my father has been a department manager a BF Goodrich for the past 15 years.  Sports have been a huge part of my upbringing and I learned many of my skills from this.  I learned leadership, teamwork,  communication, a high work ethic, and problem-solving skills.  I played 4 sports at Northrop high school and through club sports which include soccer, basketball, football, and track.  I accredit a lot of my success to my parents.  My parents have been there for me all my life and have pushed me to constantly be my best and to perform my best in every way.  My parents taught me to be kind, caring respectful, and driven.  They are my most valuable mentors and I don't know what I could have achieved without them.

​

Another mentor that really impacted me growing up was my high school athletic trainer. I was a 4 sport athlete so naturally, I had some injuries throughout my time in sports. I had a pulled hamstring, a sprained ankle, IT Band inflammation, and a broken clavicle. My high school athletic trainer was there for all of it and helped me work through it. The trainer and the staff always took care of me and gave me exercises to help me get back into the sports that I loved playing.  That is where I realized that is what I wanted to do with my life, help people that are in pain and people that are suffering and get them back to doing what they love doing.  

​

After High School, I thought I had it all planned out. I was going to go to college and pursue my degree, get my dream job, but then I learned about the Air National Guard and became very passionate about it. I come from a family many generations into the armed forces.  My grandfather was in the Navy and fought in the Vietnam War, my mother was in the Air Force, my uncle was in the Navy, and my brother is in the Army.  So following in my family's footsteps I joined the Air Force.  I enlisted and was shipped out to San Antonio, Texas for Boot Camp where I spent 8 weeks learning the skills of the world's greatest Air Force. I selected my career field in the AF as Fire Protection, where I learned the basics of Fire Fighting and First Aid.  Learning these skills and following through with the duties as a fireman, protecting all life and property, was an easy transition to caring for people and their well-being. I came back from being gone for about a year and decided to enroll in college at IUPUI to finally pursue my degree in Exercise Science, and that is where I am today!