Life Story

I have been blessed to know so many people in my lifetime and I am glad to say that most of them are my friends.  So for those who are just that, what I am going to write about may be known while for others this is the first time you're hearing about it.  Let me start my life story by saying this:  My name is Nicholas Ploof, I will turn 24 years old a month from today and I have Autism.

My condition is a high-functioning form of Autism called Asperger's Syndrome.  For those who are friends with me on Facebook, you might have seen a post from me months ago from Fox Sports.  Their baseball analysts were talking about Autism Awareness and one of them, former pitcher Mitch Williams, discussed how he has 2 kids with this same form of autism I have.  If you haven't watched it, now might be a good time to.  It will give you a chance to realize what I've dealt with for as long as I can remember.  However, I haven't let this disability take over what I've done.

As some of you know, I live in the little town of Grand Isle, VT.  During my middle school career, I was a part of the school's Basketball team and had a lot of great times with them.  I liked every team I was with, but the one that I liked the most was the one I was with in 7th grade.  It was a team that were champions of the Champlain Islands (South Hero and Alburg were also represented) and I met so many people who I still follow to this day (well, most of them I still follow).  I had a tough time in 7th grade as well with 9/11 in September of 2001 and the passing of 3 close people in my life; my friend David DuBrul, my great-grandfather Norman True and my uncle Calvin Ploof, Jr.  But I look back and remember the team I was with during that year and realized that I had a lot of fun with them.

In Grand Isle, I will forever be known as Skippy.  But in Essex, I'll be known as either Ploofer (where the name of the blog came from) or Ploofy.  I had my best times there and it was all thanks to 2 people:  Jason Weischedel and Jeff Goodrich.  During the first two years at Essex, I didn't want to be around those who I didn't know and just with those who I remember more from Grand Isle (because we don't have a high school, we were able to decide where to go for high school).  But then I met Mr. Weischedel and he introduced me to the Boy's Basketball coach (Goodrich) and the rest is history.  I was the videographer for the team the last 2 years of my high school career, but i did more than just tape the game; I was also the team's commentator for the games I worked.  The one's that I didn't work as videographer, I was the manager for the team.  It led to me doing more my senior year with sports teams, helping out the Soccer and Lacrosse teams as well as following the other sports programs during the year.  But it all started with talking with Jason and Jeff in 2005 that got me to be a part of the school's sports programs that I was involved with the last 2 years of my high school career.

I guess the videograper job worked for me because I took that to Lyndon State College.  Things were different there for me:  I was no longer a videographer or cameraman, but a photographer.  The professors I met there had there own interesting ways to teach their classes, and I met even more people there who I am glad to call my friend.  Whether it was in a class, as a residence or as part of the news product there, it was more fun for me to meet everyone who became a part of the community that was Lyndon.  I lasted five years at Lyndon and met so many people there that it would be hard to mention during this post.  In short, I really enjoyed being a part of the Lyndon State College community as long as I was and wouldn't trade it for any other college or university.

So there's the short version of my life.  From what I learned at Grand Isle School and becoming a nickname to going to Essex High School and helping the sports teams there (more on that in another post) to becoming friends with so many at Lyndon State College (also explained in a later post), there is a lot of things I have learned and I'm proud to have lived through it all.  I guess you can say that it's not a bad life for someone who wasn't expected to have this type of history, but in the end, I proved that even with having Asperger's Syndrome, I can get through High school and college and now I am ready to find out where my future will take me.  Thank you everyone and keep in touch.