High School Senior “Arrives at the Place She Always Wanted to Be”

By: Kevin Modeszto | Publish Date: March 16th, 2026

When most people are asked about their favorite high school memories, they respond with prom, homecoming dances, and going to football games with their friends. For student athletes, their best wins would be added to this list. But for Ardrey Kell High School senior and soccer player Mina Sanguine, her response extends to include her time in the hospital as a rising sophomore in the summer of 2023. 

“I was freaking out on the inside,” Sanguine said on her hospitalization due to OCD and suicidal thoughts, “I didn’t know what to expect. A couple minutes later, all I heard were the kids back there laughing, and I was like ‘this may not be so bad’.” 

Sanguine spent the next six weeks painting, making fidgets, talking about the weather, eating “way too many hospital cookies,” and attending counseling sessions to help her with her OCD, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. After six weeks, Sanguine graduated from the program with new skills, strategies, and friends.  

“When I left (the hospital), I was like ‘Mom I kind of want to go back’,” Sanguine said, “I was really excited to go back because I made such close friends.” 

On her way out, she got to put her handprint on the wall with a quote: “One day, you’ll be at the place you’ve always wanted to be.” 

And now, flashing forward to 2026, Sanguine is in the place she always wanted to be. Since she was a little girl, she dreamt of playing soccer at a high level, and now she will get to. Recently, she committed to a top Division II school, Catawba College. The small size of the school, leading to strong interpersonal connections between professors and teammates alike, is why she chose it.  

As for when she realized this was her dream, Sanguine, who plays center midfield, recalled the memory of seeing people from all walks of life coming together and cheering for the US Women’s National Team in the 2019 Women’s World Cup finals. Sanguine gets to live her dream now, but the journey to get there was worse than a nightmare.  

It was in 2022, as she began the transition into high school, when the first signs of mental health problems began to show. She experienced what she later found out were OCD symptoms. She had to do things in sets of four or something bad would happen to her family. She had to touch things with both hands. She had to get out of bed the perfect way.  

After doing research, Sanguine found out that these were OCD symptoms and, when she told her Mom, the two ended up sitting in her room for about four hours. But the next day, she was fine. A couple days later, she began having suicidal thoughts but wasn’t sure why. 

As soon as she told her mom, she instantly took her to see her doctor. If that doctor had not advocated for her, Sanguine would have been on a long waiting list just to see someone, let alone to get medicated, tested, or any actual help. She was diagnosed with OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, and reactive depression; as well as given medication. Everything was looking up until the panic attack.  

“We were out to dinner, and I wasn’t feeling good,” Sanguine said, “when we got into the car, I knew I really had to go home. I started shaking uncontrollably in the car, I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t swallow. I thought I was gonna die.” 

When they arrived home, everyone showed up. Her friends came over to make sure she was ok, and her Mom laid in bed with her all night. After this, Sanguine began to see a therapist. On top of all of this, Sanguine’s kindness and being the “weird kid” was being used against her by bullies at school. 

“Not only was I having to battle with other people, I had to also battle with myself,” Sanguine said. 

These problems bled on the field, where she was already dealing with a degrading high school coach. Due to all of this, Sanguine began losing passion for the sport she loved since she was four. After this difficult freshman year, Sanguine, her family, and her therapist all decided that going to the “partial hospitalization program” at the local hospital this story led with would be beneficial to her. In six weeks, Sanguine graduated.  

“(This experience) helped me become a better person, which helped me become a better player because I was a better teammate,” Sanguine said.  

“She would give 100% at practice and still manage to be a joy and light for her teammates, friends, and boyfriend, which is a true testament to her determination and resilience (despite everything she was going through),” club teammate Molly Estes said.  

Fast forwarding back to the present, Sanguine credits her latest club season with the Charlotte Development Academy to what opened the door for her opportunity at Catawba. She had never received much college attention before that season, then she started getting emails from colleges within the hour after every game. She particularly credited a game she had to play in the freezing rain for showing both her talent and her character to interested colleges. 

“Every single girl got along with every single girl,” Sanguine said on the team,” everywhere we traveled, the whole entire team wanted to hangout somewhere…I showed up to practice and I didn’t want to leave.” 

The club came into the season as underdogs, but primarily due to the tight knit team dynamic, they shattered all expectations both as individuals and as a team. From playing better than she ever expected to losing her voice cheering for her teammates on the bench, Sanguine had nothing but positive words to say about the team.  

“Her development over the years is a testament to her commitment to wanting to be the best player and teammates can possibly be,” her coach at the Charlotte Development Academy, Nathan Williams, said in a statement about Sanguine’s commitment, “Mina is a culture changer! A true team player and someone who is always there to celebrate the successes of others.”  

Sanguine looks forward to having another tight knit team at Catawba and to use her story to inspire younger soccer girls the same way other college soccer players, such as the tragedy of Katie Meyer.  

“I’m always proud of her accomplishments big and small,” said Sanguine’s best friend and “twin”, fellow Ardrey Kell senior Keya Patel, “even though I wasn’t in her life when she was in the hospital, I still admire her story and (feel) inspired by her because she’s so strong and kind and I love her so much.”