Adaptability Key to Waukesha West Graduate's Success

Allie Ganswindt’s been able to take everything thrown at her in life and run with it.

Her adaptability to situations is why her father, Patrick Ganswindt, knows she will succeed in her pursuit of a career in a medical field after starting college at Waukesha County Technical College in the fall.

“She as done a lot of adapting in her lifetime,” Patrick said.

The 18-year-old’s journey to her graduation at Waukesha West High School last Saturday started in Russia when she was adopted from an orphanage where she hadn’t received proper nutrition and wasn’t allowed to play outside.

“If you saw the video of her, her legs were completely bowed – really bad – to the point that we thought she was going to need surgery,” Patrick said. “It came down to the fact that they weren’t getting the nutrition levels they were supposed to at the orphanage, they weren’t getting the exercise they were supposed to at the orphanage.”

Her parents only had photos and a video before they had to pick their new daughter and son. Allie’s younger brother was also adopted at the same time.

Allie doesn’t remember Russia, but as a 2-year-old girl, she still had to overcome the language barrier, according to her father.

But her new family adopted her and took her home. It took her several weeks to warm up to Patrick. She would fuss when he held her because she wasn’t used to men. One day, though, she was a particularly cranky toddler and that’s when their relationship changed.

“I held her until she stopped crying, and she was daddy’s girl ever since,” Patrick said.

Allie played softball and basketball at Waukesha West, but her junior year came an athlete’s heartbreak. She was trying out for the team junior year. She went up for the ball, crashed into a teammate, landed on her leg wrong and tore her ACL.

Unable to play softball and basketball her junior year, Allie still helped out by managing the team, showing up to every practice and game.

“Her dedication is just amazing, in my opinion,” said her stepmother, Sarah Ganswindt.

It was difficult for Allie to sit on the bench while her teammates were playing sports after she had surgery.

“It was really rough seeing everyone play,” Allie said.

“She was in tears there for awhile when it first happened,” Patrick said. “Sports was everything she did.”

Allie returned to softball for her senior year at Waukesha West. While high school is over for the Class of 2013 graduate, she is already playing rec league to keep playing. She also is working at Taco John’s, taking a summer class, volunteering at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church and taking a mission’s trip  with the church to Atlanta, GA.

Another area where Allie’s shown adaptability is the split of her parents a few years ago. Despite having a blended family, she has a strong relationship with her stepmother.

“She is a huge help around the house,” Sarah said. “The kids love her. I will come down and she will be cleaning the kitchen. She has to share a room with Hannah (her 5-year-old stepsister) and she completely cleaned all of Hannah’s stuff of the floor. She is always pitching in, she is always helping, she is goofy and funny.

“She just a great kid all the way around. Not a lot of stepmoms can say that, especially when it comes to female-female relationships.”