Hey! My name is Kalissa and I am 19 years old and am the youngest of five children. I run track as a walk-on at Southern Utah University, as a sprinter, so I am always lifting or running in circles. I love being a student-athlete, although it can come with ups and downs. School is very important to me, and I am currently studying sports communication, with a minor in management. I really like hamburgers and being outside, and my hidden talent is that I can tie my shoes with one hand. I am obsessed with football and hope to work within that industry. I think being a social media manager or specialist for a college team would be interesting, as well as doing something more administrative like becoming a director of football operations. Anything in sports media or management for football would be an incredible job. I love learning about people and using journalism as a tool to expose the intricacies of people and their stories in connection to sports. After I am done with running in college, I hope to start my career within athletics, and later be a high school track coach on the side, as I also want to be a mother. Right now, track takes up a lot of time in my life, but it is something that I really love to do. I am passionate about track because track is not just something I do, over the years it has become who I am. I cannot imagine a world where I am not running track, and am not an athlete. For most of my life now, track has been my absolute focus. Everything that I do, what I eat, how I act, where I live, has been determined by my sport. It has given me a focus and has directed my life in a plethora of ways, ways that I had not imagined for myself when I first started to run. I also have a deep love for football as well. Football also teaches great lessons, and to me is a great allegory of life. In football, all teammates have specific roles that come together as a united purpose. To me that represents a different aspect of my life. I am a student, I am an athlete, a friend, a sister, etc. All these little parts of my life come together to create who I am and help me to become the person I ultimately would like to be. Sports has shaped me into who I am, and continues to lead me on to who I will be. Track and football have taught me many life lessons that I will hold with me as I pursue other things beyond athletics. I have been blessed to be a student-athlete and to have been surrounded by the incredible values sports brings. Sports as a whole has taught me many life lessons that I will take and apply once I am a retired athlete. As I go forward with my athletic journey, career in sports, and life in general, I will greatly value all I have learned from sports.

I am passionate about track because track is not just something I do, over the years it has become who I am. I cannot imagine a world where I am not running track, and am not an athlete. For most of my life now, track has been my absolute focus. Everything that I do, what I eat, how I act, where I live, has been determined by my sport. It has given me a focus and has directed my life in a plethora of ways, ways that I had not imagined for myself when I first started to run, and my love for track truly began. Sports as a whole has taught me many life lessons that I will take and apply once I am a retired athlete. First, track has taught me the extreme importance of hard work, and the ability to push yourself outside of your boundaries. Track is very technical, and everything you do has to be precise and thought through. You have to be able to sacrifice and work hard in order to get faster, and push yourself through the pain to become great. The same applies to life. Everything you do should be towards a greater purpose, and the things you work on should be things that will lead you to that direction. You have to be willing to push yourself and take risks in life to truly see your full potential. Another lesson track has taught me is the importance of the support of those around you. Even though track is more of an individual sport, the teammates and coaches who are your support system are so important. Without teammates to push you harder or coaches to direct you, peak athletic performance is not possible. The same goes with life, as you should surround yourself with people who care about you enough to push you to be better, who inspire you to pursue your dreams. Track has taught me that you are your only limitation, that the person stopping you from who you want to become or from what you want to achieve is ultimately yourself, and it has taught me a great lesson about accountability. Not only am I a track athlete, but I also have a deep love for football as well. Football also teaches great lessons, and to me is a great allegory of life. In football, all teammates have specific roles that come together as a united purpose. To me that represents a different aspect of my life. I am a student, I am an athlete, a friend, a sister, etc. All these little parts of my life come together to create who I am, and help me to become the person I ultimately would like to be. Sports has shaped me into who I am, and continues to lead me on to who I will be. Track and football has taught me many life lessons that I will hold with me as I pursue other things beyond athletics. I have been blessed to be a student athlete and to have been surrounded by the incredible values sports brings.

My father, who is a veteran, always taught me the importance of my freedoms and the gift we have been given through people who have sacrificed everything to provide me with the chance to live in this free country. Through every opportunity I have been given growing up, my dad has constantly reminded me that it is because of self-sacrificing people that I am able to do anything. Because of this, everything I do, such as going to school or having a job, is a gift to me. For my career, no matter what I do, I want to be grateful that through those before me, I have the freedom to do what I want to do, and pursue what I want to pursue. America is unique in the fact that we have so many options in this country. You can grow up in and from elementary school to college decide what you want to do, and you have the means to actually pursue this. Because my dad served, my eyes have been opened to this fact and I understand that not all people have this great privilege. Growing up I wanted to be a detective, then a lawyer, and then a teacher. Being a citizen in the United States gives me options to do any of these things, because I live in a place where personal freedom is abundant, and I can choose my own path. Right now, my current career aspiration is to do something in sports. I am currently in school studying sports communication, and I hope to do something within college athletics or any football industry in general. I know that I am lucky to live in a place where sports and other leisurely activities are so abundant, because Americans have the time and privilege to spend on it. We have so many great freedoms such as this because of the veterans who have sacrificed to bring them to us. I also see the connection between the American dream, patriotism, and American culture as a whole that we can find through sports. Sports have the ability to bring people together and showcase heroes such as veterans. To me, there is something uniquely American and patriotic about going to a sporting event. A big part of my love for sports and why I have chosen this career is also because of my dad. I love the aspect of sport that is about sacrifice, hard work, and pushing boundaries. My dad was able to bridge the topics of sport and veterans for me. Like in sports, veterans have to go through all of the things athletes do, and much more. Their sacrifice means more, they’re hard work reaps lasting rewards, and their ability to be resilient brings hope and freedom. I want to work within an industry that also shares those values and understands the strength of those things. My dad was able to teach me a lot about veteranism and what that truly means, and I intend to take that with me as I move forward in my professional career.