Kellyn Williams shares the University of Arkansas Campus

In the next few weeks, we will be posting a series of stories that will be written by members of our team. Each of them will show you some of their favorite aspects of our campus and tell you a little about their decision to attend the University of Arkansas. The first in our series has been provided by Kellyn Williams.

Kellyn is a Freshman Diver from Manhattan, Kansas and is just beginning her career here at Arkansas. Having recently gone through the tough process of choosing a school last year, she remembers well all that went into the decision. Kellyn is happy to share with you a bit of her life in college.

Kellyn writes: I chose Arkansas mainly because I could find nothing wrong with it. Everything that I saw on my recruiting trip seemed to be the ‘picture perfect.’ I felt at home from the moment I stepped onto campus. The people are wonderful, the facilities and coaching are amazing, and the education that I receive will best prepare me for medical school. When looking at colleges I thought that my decision would be impossible to make until I came here. One thing that really impressed me was that Anne and Benji were a big part of my recruiting trip in addition to the diving coach Scott. As a diving recruit, I was lucky if I even

Kellyn studying in the team room

met the swimming coaches at other schools, let alone have time to spend with them. The other thing that impressed me the most was the respect and attention that women’s athletics receive from the students, faculty, the community, and other athletes- both male and female. I didn’t find that anywhere else that I visited. We are treated so well and I couldn’t ask for anything better. After my arrival on campus this fall, everything was better than I expected-especially the coaching. Scott has done so much more with my diving in just the lasttwo months than I could have ever imagined. He is truly talented.

The team room definitely has its perks. It is far beyond any other team rooms that I saw on my trips because the schools I visited only had locker rooms, or they didn’t show me any ‘team room.’ I use the team room mainly to just relax and take my mind off of everything, to get ready for practice, or to wind down after a hard workout. It’s so awesome to sit in a comfortable room away from your dorm room. I love having teammates come in and sit down and talk to me as well. Since we dive at the other end of the pool the only chance we get to really spend much time with the swimmers is outside of the pool.The team room is kind of like a common ground for all of us before practice and we get a chance to catch up on each other’s days.

Arkansas Gymnastics Training Facility

At Arkansas, we are so fortunate to have use of the gymnastics practice gym. This facility is one of the best I have ever been in. It is brand new and everything is in pristine condition. Having access to the gymnastics facility allows us to take our diving to a higher level and that’s and advantage that we have over our competitors. We are able to get numerous repetitions in on the trampolines which help tremendously with our technique. It’s a lot easier to learn the correct way to do things on the trampoline before taking it to the board. We also do a lot of conditioning in the gym using various equipment that can’t be found in most weightrooms. Again, this gives us a huge advantage. The equipment is amazing. We have Australian trampoline beds which are the best trampolines available. It’s also awesome for me to get just a little taste of gymnastics since it’s a sport that I have given up to concentrate on diving.

Arkansas is a beautiful state. I actually got a chance to drive further south during the summer and it was an amazing drive. I come from Kansas, which everybody knows is very flat. Yes, there are hills in my hometown, but nothing like the hills here. They are gorgeous and definitely added to my decision to come to UA. It was like a little bonus.

Kellyn shows off the hills of Fayetteville from atop the football stadium

Studying, as everybody knows, is NOT fun at all. However, Arkansas has made the environment for athletes to study absolutely amazing. The academic center is in the football stadium and the rooms are incredible. Arkansas definitely put a lot of time and effort into providing us with such an awesome place to study. You can definitely see that Arkansas truly cares about their athletes!!!!

Bogle Academic Center lobby	Emblem on the floor of the lobby

Wow, the Northwest Quad (my dorm) is AMAZING!!! I get my OWN room and I share my bathroom with ONE person! I have my own sink and I have plenty of room to put my clothes. I love having my personal space and this is a luxury that we enjoy at the University of Arkansas. I have yet to hear of another school or visit another school that has a living situation that comes close to Arkansas. I love having roommates but also having space to call my own. It’s great having my teammates as roommates. Having people to talk to that can relate to what you’re going through really makes living here great. Practices and workouts are hard and having somebody that understands is awesome. Living in the Quad is definitely the ideal situation for me.

Kellyn’s dorm room

Please check back next week for another quick tour by a member of our team. If there happens to be an area of the campus that you would be interested in seeing featured, please feel free to contact Assistant Coach Benji DeMotte at benji@uark.edu and he will try to make arrangements for your request.