Victoria Paquin

Student

For years, Bay College freshman Victoria Paquin has dreamed of playing volleyball on the college level and attending classes at Bay. Thanks to her involvement with the Bay College Norse volleyball team, she has been able to pursue both of these goals simultaneously.

Victoria graduated from Gwinn High School in the spring of 2022. She had had an eye on Bay well before then – to the point where she first considered going there in her middle-school days.

“I wanted to move down with my grandparents to go to school and help them out on their farm,” she said.

In her pursuit of this goal, Victoria participated in Bay’s dual enrollment program during her high school days. She took two college classes during her senior year before heading to Bay full-time.

However, Victoria nearly changed her plans after getting an offer to play college volleyball elsewhere.

“I was contacted by the volleyball coach to come play at a different school, but then he moved from that school to Bay,” she said.

According to Victoria, she has been interested in volleyball (and many other sports) for much of her life.

“My mom put me in volleyball in middle school. I was a very big athlete in high school – I played four different sports, which kept me busy and out of the house,” she said.

Though Victoria is only playing volleyball at Bay, this is not the only sport she is involved with at the college.

“I just finished the volleyball season, and I’m managing the women’s basketball team and keeping up with my grades,” she said.

With the volleyball season wrapping up, Victoria said she was proud of how her team has bonded over the past few months.

“I think as a team we got really close, and that was one of the best things about it,” she said.

Going forward, she aims to build on this foundation during the team’s next season.

“As a team, we’re hoping to come back stronger than we were last year and to bring in new girls while having experienced second-year players,” Victoria said.

Along with her athletic pursuits, Victoria has been working hard on her academic performance. While she is majoring in business administration, her current focus is on getting her prerequisites out of the way.

“I honestly didn’t know what to do, but I can do a lot with business, so I picked that,” she said of her choice of major.

Additionally, Victoria has made connections with the TRIO Student Support Services Program and is working to form a group to make cards for people in assisted living homes during her first semester at Bay.

In the future, Victoria plans to get her associate degree in business administration at Bay before moving on. More specifically, she hopes to take Lake Superior State University classes through that college’s Regional Center. That would allow her to stay on Bay’s Escanaba campus for the foreseeable future.

“It’s a very good school. I’ve met a ton of new people, and it’s a very welcoming environment,” she said of her experience at Bay.