Sammy Pardes let the rest of her family go first. She stood alone atop a 20-foot-high rock overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and inched herself closer to the edge.

“Wow,” she thought to herself. “This is really a lot higher than I thought it was going to be.”

She couldn’t get down if she wanted to. And just like moments before she does a flip on a 4-inch wide balance beam, her mind went silent.

The adrenaline rush, fear and determination all collided, and she jumped.

“You feel good,” Pardes said. “Accomplished.”

Admittedly far from fearless, it’s that collision of emotions that Pardes, a junior information management and technology major, thrives on. As an active member of the SU Women’s Gymnastics Club and Otto’s Army, the junior feeds off of each day’s events.

Whether it is leading the SU student section in cheers or perfecting a backflip on the balance beam, Pardes brings an immeasurable amount of energy packed into her 4-foot-10 frame.

“She doesn’t like to sit down, she doesn’t like to be doing nothing,” said Abby Pardes, Pardes’ mother. “It amazes me that she does so many things and is able to do them well.

“She thrives off it.”

Pardes envisioned her house growing up as more of a playground. Cartwheels were to occupy open spaces, not any kind of furniture. Smaller spaces were fit for handstands, not a lamp or nightstand.

When at school, she regularly put on a showcase at the monkey bars. Pardes’ adventurous acts were littered so frequently in her daily life, Abby thought she was doing her daughter a disservice by not helping her develop.

“I thought, ‘If she’s going to be doing this stuff, she better be learning how to do it right,’” her mother said.

Pardes never relinquished her inherent passion for gymnastics and adventurous movements. Pardes parlayed her early start in gymnastics to a spot on SU’s cheerleading team as a freshman.

Pardes enjoyed her two years performing at SU football and basketball games, and wasn’t intimidated by the thousands of fans staring down at her. She didn’t even mind the day-to-day grind of being a varsity athlete.

But she longed to return to her roots as a gymnast. As she reevaluated her commitments at SU, she transferred into the School of Information Studies and dropped cheerleading in favor of gymnastics at the start of her junior year.

“I know that I’ll enjoy these things,” Pardes said. “Sometimes it takes a little extra push from myself, but it usually works out well.”

Pardes spends at least four days a week in what she calls a “secret” room in Archbold Gymnasium with the gymnastics club. She’s back in her element, having transformed her early monkey bar prowess into flips and twirls when she hangs off of bars now.

And with the lesser time commitment of gymnastics, she’s tapped into other areas of interest. Now an intern for SIDEARM Sports and an active member of Otto’s Army, Pardes is reveling in a sense of camaraderie she didn’t have before.

Instead of avoiding lines and being let right into the Carrier Dome to perform, it’s a lifestyle of campouts and road trips with fellow members of Otto’s Army that’s got Pardes more invested in Syracuse than ever before.

“I think it’s cool that there’s a cool group of us that are really into it,” Pardes said. “It’s exciting to go and root for people and want to win.”

Wishing she could diminish the number of fair-weather fans, she ensures she doesn’t set the example of one herself. She’s one of the first fans in the Carrier Dome and often returns home with swollen feet from jumping around.

She shares her passion for SU and its community like few others, said Nicole Howell, Pardes’ roommate and fellow Otto’s Army member. In a year of transition for Pardes, her affinity toward SU has not been lost.

“When you think about a Syracuse student, you think about someone who genuinely loves Syracuse and is excited to be here and excited to share it with everybody,” said Howell, a junior biology and Spanish dual major, said. “They get involved with campus activities, get jobs and do well in classes.

“Sammy’s pretty much done everything.”