Academics
The most recent: the Ken B. Jones Award as the MIAA Female Student-Athlete of the Year, and the Central Region Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Childress and her siblings grew up with a single mother in Lawrence, Kansas, and after trying her hand at basketball and not doing well, she chose track & field as a way to socialize and explore.
“I tried high jump, hurdles, 400, and I didn’t really know what I was doing,” she said. “But then I tried the long jump and the 100, and I was actually decent!”
One day her middle school coach introduced her to triple jump — an event similar to the long jump in which the competitor sprints down the track and performs a hop, a bound, and then a jump into the sand pit. The rest, as they say, was history.
In her first meet, she broke the middle school record for triple jump.
Her freshman year in high school, she continued competing.
“My first meet, I wore my sprint spikes — I didn’t even know what jump spikes were,” she said.
In her second meet, she broke the high school record.
She had found her niche.
Since coming to Pitt State:
But she also has found her niche as a scholar, bolstered by AVID, a college prep class in high school, that taught her time management, and tips for succeeding in and out of the classroom.
Last year, she was selected as a first-team NCAA D-II Academic All-America by the College Sports Communicators.
An intensive leadership academy at Lawerence Memorial Hospital was what sparked an interest in medicine, and a campus visit to Pitt State showed her possible majors in health care, including nursing, exercise science, and biology pre-med.
Ultimately, she chose nursing, and today, scrubs are a part of her daily attire.
“I love learning in the new simulation hospital at Pitt State — it’s an amazing place,” she said.
After classes throughout the day, she heads to the Plaster Center for practice at 3:30 p.m. and weights at 5 p.m.
“I walked out to the Gorilla Walk to run 200s the other day for a workout right after learning about catheters,” she laughed.
There are no Friday night parties: She awakens at 4 a.m. on Saturdays and carpools to Freeman Hospital, about 40 minutes away, for 6 a.m. clinicals, wrapping up at 3 p.m. with debriefing.
“My first day, someone passed away and I was responsible for post-mortem care,” she said. “Being a student athlete, you have to have mental and physical toughness. It requires both.”
Childress also developed a toughness in her youth for another reason: her skin color.
“I faced discrimination from teachers in high school, some thinking I was cheating, thinking I didn’t know what certain words meant,” she said. “A few questioned my academic abilities; they had low expectations."
“That’s a motivation for me: that there would be people out there who think what I look like means I can’t succeed, but that’s not the way it works. I am capable.”
Here, she’s had plenty of advocates.
Faculty in the School of Nursing, like Anna Beth Gilmore, have helped her design her academic and athletic schedules so that she can find time for both. Jumps Coach Jesse Miller, a former athlete himself who also is African American, has counseled and encouraged her.
She’s proud of being the first in her family to attend college. Proud of a 4.00 her first semester of college. Proud of PRs of 44’2.5” in the triple jump and 19’8.75” in the long jump, so far. Proud of being a role model for younger generations.
The national student-athlete awards she earned, she said, were “icing on the cake.”
Celebrating along with her were Head Coach Kyle Rutledge and Executive Director of Nursing Cheryl Giefer.
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel real, but I always give praise to God because I don’t look like what I have been through,” she said.
Her next goals: earning her BSN, passing the NCLEX, and becoming an RN. And maybe, she said, going pro.
Learn more about the Nursing program at Pitt State.
Learn more about Athletics at Pitt State.
