SportsHopes Spotlight: October 18, 2015

Amazing grace, sincerely kind and fierce in focus, track sprinter Kayla Dickerson, has been strategizing for and working towards a professional career for many years now. The Laney Community College (Oakland, CA) 4.0 GPA student-athlete sophomore plans to apply to nursing schools at four-year colleges this year and hopes to continue competing in track at one of the colleges. Since many California nursing programs are impacted she will research and apply to both in-state and out-of-state programs. Kayla is shown here with her Dad, Brian. This week she researched colleges that have nursing programs as well as track programs, reviewed their website athletic staff directories for track & field coach names and email addresses, wrote a professional but brief email introducing herself (and sharing her academics/stats/volunteer work) to the coaches (at one college at a time) and sent the emails out. Visibility and getting on the radar of college coaches is important and she’s doing her due diligence! In her spare time Kayla volunteers and helps Laney Sports Medicine tape-up athletes prior to their practices and competitions. Prior to Laney and while a student at Northgate High School (Walnut Creek, CA) she obtained CPR and First Aid certifications and assisted trainers at numerous high school sports events. She will be assisting SportsHopes at an upcoming fundraiser this year as well. You are doing a great job, Kayla, proud of you! Kayla’s excellent 2015 sprint times are located via the following link: https://www.directathletics.com/athletes/track/5143739.html