My name is Zak Muffitt.  I am currently a sophomore here at Messiah, majoring in Sport Management.  My goal, once obtaining a degree, is to become an athletic director at the high school level.  I am from Newport, Pennsylvania.  Newport is a very small town off of route 322.  I live in the middle of Harrisburg and State College.  I am a huge Penn State athletics fan.  Penn State is my dream school, but sadly they did not have my major so Messiah was the next best option for me.  I chose Messiah because of baseball.  I am a pitcher for the baseball team here and love being an athlete on campus.  I was on the edge about playing baseball in college and really did not want to play baseball in college, but I figured that I only had four more years of meaningful baseball left in my life.  Coming to Messiah was kind of a culture shock for me.  I came from a high school where I graduated with 60 kids and now being at a school with over 3,000, it was a little different for me.  I love Messiah and everything it has to offer.

I did not grow up in a religious household.  My mom and dad never really took me to church.  My grandparents are religious and attend church most Sundays.  I guess my mom and dad just never really wanted to go to church every Sunday.  With how today’s world works, a lot of people do not go to church because they say they do not have time and for my family, that was the case sometimes.  Between my mom having her own travel cheerleading business and me doing travel baseball on Sundays, where the games were really far away and we had to wake up at 6 am to get there on time.  I went through my teenage years not really having any sort of relationship with God,  until I got to Messiah last year.  Being around the team and a lot of other athletes who have a deep relationship with God, it made me want to pursue the relationship.  Now I am proud to say I am in a tip toe with God.  I am not in a full out walk, run or sprint, but I am taking baby steps and I am happy with my progress.