Nikola Grafnetterova ’10

“In the Czech Republic, colleges do not sponsor sports teams, so this idea was very exciting.”

stories_nikola.jpg

As a field hockey goalkeeper, Nikola Grafnetterova knows that a last-minute save to preserve the win for her team can be exhilarating. Last minute and exhilarating describe her journey from Prague to Wilson. As a high school junior, she applied to be an exchange student just before the deadline. She was accepted and spent her senior year at Chambersburg Area Senior High School, living with a host family(.)

She learned about Wilson and its field hockey team when she accompanied a friend to the Admissions Office to pick up materials about Wilson. “In the Czech Republic, colleges do not sponsor sports teams, so this idea was very exciting.” Nikola applied and was accepted the same week her mother came to Chambersburg to accompany her daughter back home. “Everything happened so fast. I didn’t even know Wilson was a women’s college until orientation week.”

Wilson’s field hockey team won the conference championship in Nikola’s first year. She started playing field hockey in first grade, but this was her first team championship. It was a thrill for Nikola, the team and the whole school.

Like other Wilson students, Nikola is playing a sport for the first time. “I am not very good at softball, but the camaraderie is fun.” She is also sports editor of the Billboard. Typical of all students who participate in athletics at Wilson, Nikola’s interests lie beyond sports. She is a member of the WCGA, vice president of the Spanish Club and a tour guide for the Admissions Office. She says her internship as a summer camp counselor at a YMCA was good preparation for coaching teams in the future. While Nikola wants her career to be sports related, she says, “You don’t know what’s going to happen.” Whatever it is, the liberal arts education at Wilson will prepare her for the future.