Meghan Ryan and her cousin Ryan Dongelewic made their first jumps when they turned 18. (Photo courtesy of Sharon Dongelewic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRyan \u201920 (PHARM) is currently a pre-pharmacy student who will begin full-time work in the School of Pharmacy next year. A native of Colonie, New York, just outside of Albany, she first set her sights on becoming a pharmacy student at UConn when she was in high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a strong math and science background, including AP courses, and I knew I wanted to do something in the sciences in the future. Pharmacy seemed to offer a lot of career options, and I wanted to stay in the Northeast for college. The UConn School Pharmacy has a great reputation so it was only natural to apply here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, she adds with a smile, she knew UConn had a sky diving club.<\/p>\n
Ryan\u2019s acceptance included a space in the \u2018Special Programs in Pharmacy\u2019 cohort which is an opportunity for highly motivated students to take advantage of seminars, research opportunities, and special events that will help them achieve their academic and career goals.<\/p>\n
Following a freshman year in which she concentrated on her studies \u2013 including courses required for a business minor – Ryan joined the UConn Sky Diving Club last September.\u00a0 She explains that in order to make solo jumps, novice jumpers have to prove their proficiency through a variety of stages. First, two instructors accompany a student, making sure the rookie is not spinning out of control or regretting the decision to jump in the first place \u2013 too late at this point!\u00a0 Gradually, as proficiency increases, only one instructor accompanies the jumper.<\/p>\n
Finally, after demonstrating skill at maintaining a stable jumping position, being aware of the altitude at all times, and knowing what to do in case of emergency, the trainee is allowed to make a solo jump. This means leaving the plane at about 13,500 feet and pulling the parachute cord at about 4,000 feet. The result is about a minute of free fall time before the canopy is deployed, with the person floating freely in mid-air.<\/p>\n
Of that first jump on her own, taken on October 22, 2017, \u00a0Ryan says, \u201cMy first solo jump was exhilarating and liberating. Since I didn\u2019t have to demonstrate any abilities to an instructor, I could do what I wanted, giving me an incredibly freeing sensation. During my freefall, I was able to take the time to really appreciate how much fun the sport is and how much freedom it allows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan is nothing if not adventuresome. In order to dive without supervision, a person must be licensed by the United States Parachuting Association (USPA). \u00a0Licenses are awarded at four levels, depending on the complexity of skills a jumper can demonstrate. The first \u2013 or A \u2013 license requires a minimum of 25 solo jumps as well as passing written and oral exams.<\/p>\nMeghan Ryan took part in the accuracy competition at the National Collegiate Parachuting Championships. (Photo courtesy of Mary Ryan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSo what did she do right after she got her A license in mid-November? She attended the National Collegiate Parachuting Championships held the next month in Lake Wales, Florida. Although she now has the nearly 50 jumps required for her B license, Ryan was pretty much a neophyte when she accompanied her fellow UConn Sky Diving Club members to the competition.<\/p>\n
She says, \u201cUConn was competing with teams from UMass, Kansas State, and Fort Lewis College as well as West Point, the Air Force and Navel academies, and schools such as Georgia Tech, Kansas State, and Northeastern.\u00a0 The team did really well.\u00a0 I was probably the least experienced jumper in the entire competition because I\u2019d only completed 27 jumps at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Florida, Ryan competed in two events.\u00a0 One involving two jumpers from the same team \u2013 called 2-way \u2013 and another involving accuracy. Although she didn\u2019t place, she said she had a blast and can\u2019t wait for next year\u2019s championships which will be held in Arizona.<\/p>\nAt the National Collegiate Parachuting Championships, Ryan (right) teamed with Rhianna Sullivan ’21 (CLAS) in 2-way jumping.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRyan says that the UConn Skydiving Club<\/a> is a competitive club sport that uses the Connecticut Parachutists drop zone in Ellington as its home base. In addition to actual jumps, the team also travels to Sky Venture in Nashua, New Hampshire where they can experience \u2018indoor skydiving\u2019 in a wind tunnel.<\/p>\n\u201cWe have a great membership,\u201d Ryan says of her fellow sky divers, \u201cand everyone is so supportive of everyone else.\u201d For those who have been thinking about making that first jump, she says visit the club\u2019s website, attend their meetings, and maybe \u2018you, too\u2019 will find that jumping out of a plane is the most fun you\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n
As an amusing (to some) aside, during Spring break Ryan was seen sporting a sling on her left arm as a result of a tumble while snowboarding with her (you guessed it) cousin Ryan.\u00a0 Her main concern?\u00a0 Having her broken collarbone heal in time to start parachuting again in the spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If someone suggested you jump out of an airplane, would you do it? Meghan Ryan\u2019s cousin, Ryan Dongelewic — who also happens to be her best friend — made that suggestion as they were both approaching their 18th birthdays. Once that day arrived, they arranged to take the necessary instruction at a small airport near […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":135822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1935],"class_list":["post-135793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pharm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 09:35:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135831,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135793\/revisions\/135831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/135822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135793"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=135793"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=135793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Meghan](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Ryan2.jpg\")
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