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.
It
also proved to be a winning move as they still won and took the conference
title.
The above was taken from a very long and detailed article about Amanda. Because of its length, I did not include much of the article. To read much more about Amanda Hill, go to:
