Sept. 10, 2015
By Anita Nham, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" From the moment that senior Kendall Pierce played in her debut collegiate volleyball game as a defensive specialist against Morehead State in her freshman year at Penn State, Pierce has made a dynamic impact on the team.
Pierce played in 18 matches her freshman year, and 35 matches her sophomore year, including the NCAA title win against No.12 Wisconsin. Last season, she took action in 37 matches, where she helped lead the Nittany Lions to their seventh national title, and she was honored as a 2014-15 Big Ten Distinguished scholar.
This season, Pierce has already taken a step forward from last year in the first five matches, and was recently nominated as a candidate for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award.
But Pierce recognizes that there is more to life than athletics, and she is actively displaying that by being involved within the community while excelling in volleyball.
"I think the community has helped me a lot in this position with this program," said Pierce. "I see how important it is, and I think it is a big thing of what Penn State is all about. I love the community and I love the people that are involved. I think there is so much more outside of athletics that if we can connect, it's really important to us."
Pierce will be the co-president for Athletes Take Action, a program where Penn State student-athletes visit local middle schools to talk to sixth graders about the dangers of bullying and how to prevent, report and take action against it. The student-athletes go to the students' homeroom classes, and they interact with the sixth graders by working on lesson plans and teaching them how to stand up for each other and to stop bullying.
"[This year], I will be writing out the lesson plans and getting all our student athletes involved in that," said Pierce. "I usually help with a lot of the special events, like how we as athletes can interact with the community and anything we can do with our team."
In addition, Pierce is involved in SAA, as known as the Student Athletic Advisory board. The board contains a number of student-athletes that work hard at exceeding on their competition fields, in the classroom as well as in the community.
"I was the treasurer for SAA last year, so I did a lot of outreach community events," said Pierce. "I will be graduating in December, so I'm no longer on the board officially, but I will be helping with them…I'll be doing a lot of prepping for this year, in terms of transition notes from the positions that I was in for others."
Pierce also volunteers with State College's Special Olympics.
This offseason, while Pierce was working on her defense, passes and serves, she also had a summer internship at The Village Atrium of Penn State with the assisted living.
"I fell in love [with my internship]," said Pierce. "I worked in the recreation department, and I fell in love with working with the residents and the elderly, and I could see my future in that…We did a lot of therapy to work with the residents on memories, on movement and their day-to-day living. We visited them a lot and we did little activities and crafts with them. It was a really nice working position where I got to connect with other human beings, which was really special."
Pierce will graduate in December. And in less than four years, she has accomplished so much, but none of it would have been possible if it wasn't for her time at Penn State.
"If I didn't choose [Penn State], I would always think 'What if?' in life, so this is my 'What if, go get it, see how it turns out,' and it's been the best. I wouldn't do it any other way," said Pierce.