Moving to Laramie from Los Angeles may seem like a downgrade. Or maybe even a punishment. For Jessica Parizher, leaving sun on the beach for wind on the plains was neither. It was a chance for her to apply herself and kickstart future. It wasn’t a downgrade or a punishment. It was a fresh start.
“I came here and I felt like it was a clean slate,” said Parizher, “It was like I got to start over, I got to do things the right way. I didn’t really feel like I did necessarily in high school because I focused so much more on tennis than I did academically.”
Beginning tennis at the age of four, Parizher boasts an impressive prep career. Her pre-collegiate achievements earned her the 163rd ranking in the country, which lead to a multitude of schools vying for her talents.
Luckily for the Cowgirls, the California-native turned down LMU and UC-Irvine to come to Wyoming.
“At the time, when I was in high school, I was like ‘Oh get me out of here, I want to go to a different place’,” Parizher said, “Here just seemed like a perfect fit.”
Wyoming fit Parizher for several reasons: the facilities were superb, the coaches fit her criteria – and the University of Wyoming was far away from her Los Angeles high school, very far. Parizher wanted a change and that is exactly what she got. Admittedly not placing a high importance on academics in high school, it took a change in time zones for Parizher to realize just exactly where her priorities lie.
“It is a big transition from high school to college, especially if you were like me and didn’t really apply yourself in high school,” Parizher confessed, “Here, I feel like I finally learned that balance of what’s really important. You know like ‘Okay, yeah I have tennis, but what’s after that?’ that kind of thing.”
Finding that balance did not come easy, but coming to the end of her junior year, Perizher has figured things out. Originally planning on going into pharmacy, it took a few attempts for the 5’5” tennis star to find her passion.
“I came here and I thought ‘Okay, psychology is not one of those really succinct things, it’s very broad. So, I’m going to pick something really practical.’ So I picked pharmacy,” explained Parizher.
Her initial decision to go into pharmacy ended when she realized she could not force herself into a major, she needed to find what something that truly interested her. Always enjoying psychology, Parizher decided to major in the field and has not looked back.
“I switched to psychology and I now understand why I had to do all of that stuff to finally appreciate that you should do what you’re happy with and what you’re good at,” Parizher said, “Not really look at like ‘Is this practical?’ or ‘Is this going to pay well?’ you have to do what you actually like to do.”
Now that Parizher has found her academic bliss and has developed into fierce competitor, she is beginning to look towards her future. As her collegiate tennis career nears an end, she is planning for what is going to come next.
“The career kind of stops there,” said Parizher, “It’s weird that it’s so close, I can’t see myself not going to practice every day. I guess next year is the year I actually grow up. It’s scary but exciting, there are a lot of different emotions.”
Parizher has a lot of options placed in front of her, but she seems to have a good handle on what she would like her future to hold.
“I love Los Angeles and if that’s where the future takes me than I am totally fine with that,” remarked Parizher, “I really see myself using psychology as a way to help people.”
As Parizher moves forward, she looks back on what she has accomplished. Included in the long list of match wins and conference appearances, one achievement truly stands out. A win against Long Beach State during her freshman year earned her proudest moment.
“It was this really mean girl,” said Parizher. “I know we all really wanted to win. At the time they were ranked in the top 30 or 40 range, so it was a pretty big match. I won the third set so it was the win for the 4-3 so I really remember that.”
Heading into her senior year and wrapping up her exceptional tennis career, Perizher is not quite done leaving her mark on the University of Wyoming women’s tennis team.
“I want to break the singles record,” said Parizher, “I really want to make sure no one can beat it for a while.”
