A national championship cancelled, online classes, an emergency room beyond capacity, multiple quarantines, making up missed clinicals and playing basketball in an empty gym, masked
It was an 18-month grind for Amanda Hill.
Any one of these situations could be a struggle for the average person, but Kansas Wesleyan University’s do-it-all star has proven well beyond average.
Prior to the pandemic shut down of college sports, Hill was a full-time nursing student with a demanding schedule, playing a leading role for the NAIA KWU Coyotes.
“Nursing school was the toughest thing I have ever done,” Hill said as she reflected on her years as a student-athlete.
She was only one of three remaining students from her original freshman class to graduate from the nursing program she began in 2018 at KWU. The nursing school grading scale is less flexible than the rest of the academic programs at KWU, so a grade of 79% or lower means you fail.
During finals week, she also had two games. “I had to take finals all day (even take a final early), then go play a basketball game. Then I stayed up all night to study and took finals the entire next day,” Hill said.
Hill has been relentless in basketball and her nursing program, and brings a selfless approach to both.
In her junior year, Hill and teammate Kelcey Hinz approached coach Ryan Showman on senior night to ask if one of them could not start the game so that a senior reserve player could have the moment. It was an important game as the Coyotes were playing for a conference championship, but Hill was more concerned with putting her teammate first.
“I thought that was the most selfless act anyone can ever do,” Showman said.
