2016 Top Bod On Campus – Gabrielle Harvey

(Photos are from Gabrielle’s Facebook page.)

Faith & Fitness Magazine: Gabrielle, describe your life before college.

Gabrielle Harvey: I’m from a small town in the Adirondacks in New York. I kept active by constantly running around playing any sport I could get my hands on. I played soccer, basketball, and softball. I went hiking and swimming down by the river. for sports conditioning I lifted weights. I volunteered to go on a sports ministry trip to Panama where we visited public schools and held soccer games where the gospel was shared.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: What do you do for fun? Tell us what makes it fun for you.

Gabrielle Harvey: Two things I really enjoy for fun are reading and sports. I read because it keeps my imagination active. Playing sports is simply a great way to have a fun time hanging with friends while having healthy competition.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: What are your “life” goals and how are you working toward them?

Gabrielle Harvey: One goal I have is to be able to hike a big mountain that is located around where I live when I am 60 years old. Even though that is still a long way off, right now I am trying to set good habits by eating healthy and keeping my body physical fit. Another goal I have is to finish my college degree and then use that and travel the world with different mission organizations wherever I am needed.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: Why did you decide to go to this university? What were your expectations when you first started and how has the school and campus life measured up to them?

Gabrielle Harvey: I had heard about Davis College while I was at the Word of Life Bible Institute. Our basketball team played against them, but after visiting there I did not think much about actually going there until after the ministry trip to Brazil. It was there that I realized I wanted to become a teacher and Davis College had the perfect degree for me.

 

FITNESS – THE HEIGHT OF FRIENDSHIPS

Faith & Fitness Magazine: How did you first get interested in exercise and living a fit lifestyle? What physical qualities do you think your friends feel best qualify you as a top bod?

Gabrielle Harvey: I grew up going to a small Christian school for elementary and middle school. There was only one other girl in my class and the rest were boys, so I was constantly running around and playing different sports with them during recess, which I am pretty sure is how I grew to love competition so much. I have always been a little self-conscience about my height until I began playing sports in high school basically year round. Now I am very thankful for my height especially with basketball. I love people coming and asking me to grab things off the top shelves that are out of their reach.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: Describe the fitness culture on your campus. What are your favorite exercises and why?

Gabrielle Harvey: Sports are a big deal at Davis, especially since it is such a small campus with a good amount of sports options. I would say like 70% of the students on campus play in a sport, which leads to many fun nights of intramural sports. I love scrimmaging for basketball because it involves gaining a connection with the people on your team while incorporating running and sprinting for conditioning.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: Do you workout with friends? If so, tell us about that and how it is different from when you workout alone.

Gabrielle Harvey: When I go to the gym I usually always go with a friend. We stick with weightlifting and using the different machines to build muscle. When I exercise by myself, I tend to stick more with running, sit-ups and push up. During the school year there is practice every night, but on the weekends I go to the gym and run / sprint two to three miles. Then hope on the bike and go another 5 to 10. Of course if I am with a friend it is different

Faith & Fitness Magazine: Tell us about your nutrition plan.

Gabrielle Harvey: I stay away from soda, energy drinks, coffee. Mainly only drink water actually. I always thought that if your body was to tired to stay awake on its own with out caffeine, than you needed to go to bed earlier at night and prioritize your schedule better. Food wise, I tend to stick with veggies and whole grains. But my main idea is to eat in moderation.

FAITH – DISCOVERING HOW TO MAKE IT MY OWN

Faith & Fitness Magazine: Describe how you came to know Christ as your personal savior.

Gabrielle Harvey: I was raised in a Christian home, but did not come to accept Christ as my personal savior until the first year of college at the Word of Life Bible Institute.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: How do you feel your college has helped you mature physically, academically and spiritually?

Gabrielle Harvey: College has certainly helped me mature in all three areas. Physically – between the open gyms, intramural sports, sports games and practices, Davis has made working out and keeping in shape not only readily available, but also fun and interactive. Academically – my degree professor has been so encouraging. She has such a passion for what she teaches that it is easy to get excited about my degree.  She makes learning fun while helping me to gain confidence in my own abilities as well as continually grow and advance. Spiritually – Davis is a small school, so you get to know the people around you very well. This means that I learn to identify when someone is struggling. Amazing opportunities come up when you can encourage and be encouraged by one another around you.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: What are some of the spiritual discoveries you have made while at college? How is that shaping the way you live and interact with others?

Gabrielle Harvey: The biggest lesson I have learned is how important it is to make your faith your own. No one can live your life for you and make the hard decisions. When tough times come, God is the light that is going to get you through it. He will never disappoint.

THE FITNESS OF MY FAITH – DEVOTION, RELATIONSHIPS, LEARNING

Faith & Fitness Magazine: How do you feel living a healthy life and being active impacts your relationship with God? What are the most visible characteristics of your personal faith and how do you live out your faith?

Gabrielle Harvey: Being healthy and active is very important. because I don’t know where God is going to lead me in my life yet but I want my body to be ready for anything that God would have me do. My passion and love is for people. I love to listen to people and encourage them. God has given me so much in life. I rejoice about that and  I want to be able to give a little bit of that joy to others.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: What is a big spiritual challenge you face and how does that drive you to grow spiritually? What are some favorite ways that help you to experience God?

Gabrielle Harvey: Pride — I love being an independent person and being able to do everything on my own, but I need to remind myself that God has created the body of believers [a community of close Christian friends] to help and grow each other throughout life. Two things that really help me experience God are my daily quiet time in the Bible and keeping a prayer journal. I love being able to look back and see how God has helped me through each situation.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: Share about your prayer life?

Gabrielle Harvey:  I struggled with praying a lot when I was younger, but now I have come to see that prayer is one of the main reasons why Christ died for us. He died so that we could have a personal relationship with God, and prayer is the main way that we can talk to Him. When I see that I desire a relationship with him, talking to him becomes natural.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: And your “church” life?

Gabrielle Harvey: While at Davis College, I have attended a wonderful church called Grace Point. I used to hate going to church honestly, but since I have become a Christian I find that I crave the time I get to sit under the teaching of God’s Word and the fellowship that comes from being around other believers.

ENVISIONING MY FUTURE

Faith & Fitness Magazine: What is on the horizon for your career? Is everything coming together well for it?

Gabrielle Harvey: Learning and growing at Davis College has been such a blessing. God has been so faithful to lead me this far and I know he will continue to lead the rest of the way.

Faith & Fitness Magazine: How do you feel you will balance your career and your commitment to fitness in the future?

Gabrielle Harvey: When I am working out on my own I try to keep things short but purposeful. In the future things should be easy to maintain since they are not for long periods of time.

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Gabrielle Harvey was selected to represent Davis College in Faith & Fitness Magazine’s 2016 Top Bods On Campus.  Learn more about our Top Bods On Campus series. This feature story appears in the October/November 2016 issue of Faith & Fitness Magazine. For more content for university minded readers go to our College Fitness Department.