{"id":7129,"date":"2016-02-03T14:33:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T18:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=7129"},"modified":"2022-03-23T10:35:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T14:35:52","slug":"katieclark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/","title":{"rendered":"Expanding Circles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tennis<\/a>
Katie Clark \u201916, tennis player and student leader<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916<\/strong> would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high school and attend Kalamazoo College.<\/p>\n

But before she left, a close family friend gave her peace of mind and a thought that\u2019s stuck with her to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis part of your life isn\u2019t dying, your circle is just getting bigger,\u201d the friend told her.<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s circle has expanded exponentially since stepping on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t know I was going to be happy here until I showed up the first day,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIt was a little different that someone from the East Coast would go to this little funky school in Michigan called Kalamazoo. But I remember pulling up to campus and thinking \u2018Oh, it\u2019s actually so beautiful here and everyone seems really nice and maybe I\u2019ll like it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cTurns out, I\u2019ve always enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading on and off the court<\/strong>
\nAs an athlete, Clark\u2019s circle grew quickly as she became immersed in the women\u2019s tennis family, but she was also introduced to another area on campus because of her involvement with tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo or three years ago my coach recognized that women\u2019s tennis had never really played that significant of a role on the Athletic Leadership Council, so he recommended I start attending,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIt was a really good fit because the goals and work that ALC does very much align with my personal reasons for wanting to be a student-athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark, ALC\u2019s active secretary, said her time with ALC helped her establish her identity beyond \u201cstudent\u201d or \u201cathlete.\u201d The organization allows her to simply be a part of the Kalamazoo College community.
\n\u201cALC engages student athletes with community work such as working with Special Olympics, but it also creates and hosts events for the entire campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a senior member of ALC and the tennis team, Clark is excited to be able to help shape the culture of the campus and her team.<\/p>\n

From the court to Congress<\/strong>
\nA history major and a political science minor, Clark secured an internship with Senior United States Senator Charles Schumer in the summer of 2014 on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\"Senator<\/a>
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Katie Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When she arrived in Washington D.C. she learned her work would be primarily left up to her to figure out.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of the internship being very structured, it really was what you made out of it,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the more valuable things I took away from my experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout my education, ever since kindergarten, people just give you things to do all the time and that\u2019s a very easy thing to get accustomed to. On the other hand, working to find work for myself was\u00a0 new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her assigned tasks included fielding calls from constituents, answering questions about policy in a cordial manner, organizing the mail and also giving tours of the Capitol Building. Her most valuable experience came from the work she assigned herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would find senatorial briefings on my own and would go talk to the responsible staffer to ask if they wanted me to write a memo and do research on the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times the staffer wouldn\u2019t actually need the memo, but the interaction was about establishing the connection and having them realize that you want to be there. When they actually did need help with something significant they knew that I was well versed in that subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

She enjoyed the experience, and the feeling was mutual–Clark returned to the same position the following summer.<\/p>\n

Expanding globally<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/a>
Katie Clark in Thailand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thailand is a place many people never see in their lifetime, but Clark\u2019s circle stretched across the globe when she decided to experience the country and culture during the fall and winter terms of her junior year.<\/p>\n

Clark didn\u2019t want to just be a student in an unfamiliar environment; she wanted to immerse herself within a community and learn from people with vastly different understandings of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy program was predominantly experiential-based learning, so other than the first six weeks we were in the field the entire time,\u201d she said. \u201cWe spent most of our time in host villages living and learning from different members of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The days\u2019 events and tasks ranged from meeting with government officials and local business men and women, to helping families clean their roofs and taking children to school. The topics of discussion ranged from overfishing to gender and religion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be enrolled in a study abroad program that would give me something I wouldn\u2019t be able to get on my own,\u201d Clark said.\u00a0 Turns out that \u201csomething\u201d was a deep connection to \u201ccommunities and very rural areas in the mountains in northern Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing beyond graduation<\/strong>
\nUsing the experiences she\u2019s had and the connections she\u2019s made during her three and half years at K, Clark hopes to continue lengthening the radius of her circle as she begins to prepare for life after Kalamazoo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so many different areas of support here at K. School is something that I really value and enjoy. For my professors to be able to push me to be the best student I can be is special.
\n\u201cInstead of just telling me \u2018good work\u2019 sometimes my professors will tell me \u2018you can do better than this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With her senior tennis season surely at the front of her mind and set to get underway in less than a month, her goal after graduation is to join the Peace Corps.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say–and Clark has no doubt–that wherever her path leads her next, she\u2019ll be well-prepared.<\/p>\n

(Text and photos by Kurt Miller<\/strong>, assistant sports information director<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916 would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high school and attend Kalamazoo College. But before she left, a close family friend gave her peace of mind and a thought that\u2019s stuck with her to this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[36,93,48,38,47],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-7129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-athletics","tag-career-development","tag-leadership","tag-students","tag-study-abroad"],"yoast_head":"\r\nExpanding Circles - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916 would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Expanding Circles - News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916 would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-03T18:33:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-23T14:35:52+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"318\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Van Sweden\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Van Sweden\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\",\"name\":\"Expanding Circles - News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-03T18:33:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-23T14:35:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af\"},\"description\":\"Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916 would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":318,\"caption\":\"Expanding Circles\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Expanding Circles\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News and Events\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af\",\"name\":\"Jim Van Sweden\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jim Van Sweden\"},\"description\":\"Director, College Communications\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Expanding Circles - News and Events","description":"Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916 would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Expanding Circles - News and Events","og_description":"Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916 would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/","og_site_name":"News and Events","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege","article_published_time":"2016-02-03T18:33:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-23T14:35:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":318,"url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim Van Sweden","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@kcollege","twitter_site":"@kcollege","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Van Sweden","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/","name":"Expanding Circles - News and Events","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-03T18:33:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-23T14:35:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af"},"description":"Senior tennis player Katie Clark \u201916 would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg","width":300,"height":318,"caption":"Expanding Circles"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Expanding Circles"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/","name":"News and Events","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af","name":"Jim Van Sweden","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jim Van Sweden"},"description":"Director, College Communications"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Jim Van Sweden","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/author\/jvsweden\/"},"guten_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb-283x300.jpg",283,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"ab-block-post-grid-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"ab-block-post-grid-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"pl-blogpost-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"pl-blogpost-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"guten_post_layout_square_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"guten_post_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"campus-posts-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",283,300,false],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",283,300,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/larkThumb.jpg",300,318,false]},"category_info":"<a aria-label=\"archive of category Students\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/students\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Students<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/athletics\/\" rel=\"tag\">athletics<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/career-development\/\" rel=\"tag\">career development<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/leadership\/\" rel=\"tag\">leadership<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/students\/\" rel=\"tag\">students<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/study-abroad\/\" rel=\"tag\">study abroad<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/katieclark\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<figure id=\"attachment_7130\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7130\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/lark-Katie-untitled-7945.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7130\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7130 size-full\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/lark-Katie-untitled-7945.jpg\" alt=\"Tennis player Katie Clark\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7130\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katie Clark \u201916, tennis player and student leader<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Senior tennis player<strong> Katie Clark \u201916<\/strong> would be lying if she said she wasn\u2019t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high school and attend Kalamazoo College.<\/p>\n<p>But before she left, a close family friend gave her peace of mind and a thought that\u2019s stuck with her to this day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis part of your life isn\u2019t dying, your circle is just getting bigger,\u201d the friend told her.<\/p>\n<p>Clark\u2019s circle has expanded exponentially since stepping on campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t know I was going to be happy here until I showed up the first day,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIt was a little different that someone from the East Coast would go to this little funky school in Michigan called Kalamazoo. But I remember pulling up to campus and thinking \u2018Oh, it\u2019s actually so beautiful here and everyone seems really nice and maybe I\u2019ll like it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTurns out, I\u2019ve always enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leading on and off the court<\/strong><br \/>\nAs an athlete, Clark\u2019s circle grew quickly as she became immersed in the women\u2019s tennis family, but she was also introduced to another area on campus because of her involvement with tennis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo or three years ago my coach recognized that women\u2019s tennis had never really played that significant of a role on the Athletic Leadership Council, so he recommended I start attending,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIt was a really good fit because the goals and work that ALC does very much align with my personal reasons for wanting to be a student-athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Clark, ALC\u2019s active secretary, said her time with ALC helped her establish her identity beyond \u201cstudent\u201d or \u201cathlete.\u201d The organization allows her to simply be a part of the Kalamazoo College community.<br \/>\n\u201cALC engages student athletes with community work such as working with Special Olympics, but it also creates and hosts events for the entire campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a senior member of ALC and the tennis team, Clark is excited to be able to help shape the culture of the campus and her team.<\/p>\n<p><strong>From the court to Congress<\/strong><br \/>\nA history major and a political science minor, Clark secured an internship with Senior United States Senator Charles Schumer in the summer of 2014 on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7131\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7131\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/lark-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7131\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7131\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/lark-1.jpg\" alt=\"Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Katie Clark\" width=\"250\" height=\"402\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7131\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Katie Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When she arrived in Washington D.C. she learned her work would be primarily left up to her to figure out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of the internship being very structured, it really was what you made out of it,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the more valuable things I took away from my experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThroughout my education, ever since kindergarten, people just give you things to do all the time and that\u2019s a very easy thing to get accustomed to. On the other hand, working to find work for myself was\u00a0 new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her assigned tasks included fielding calls from constituents, answering questions about policy in a cordial manner, organizing the mail and also giving tours of the Capitol Building. Her most valuable experience came from the work she assigned herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would find senatorial briefings on my own and would go talk to the responsible staffer to ask if they wanted me to write a memo and do research on the subject.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of times the staffer wouldn\u2019t actually need the memo, but the interaction was about establishing the connection and having them realize that you want to be there. When they actually did need help with something significant they knew that I was well versed in that subject.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She enjoyed the experience, and the feeling was mutual–Clark returned to the same position the following summer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Expanding globally<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7134\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7134\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/lark-3.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7134\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7134\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/02\/lark-3.jpg\" alt=\"Katie Clark in Thailand\" width=\"300\" height=\"255\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7134\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katie Clark in Thailand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Thailand is a place many people never see in their lifetime, but Clark\u2019s circle stretched across the globe when she decided to experience the country and culture during the fall and winter terms of her junior year.<\/p>\n<p>Clark didn\u2019t want to just be a student in an unfamiliar environment; she wanted to immerse herself within a community and learn from people with vastly different understandings of life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy program was predominantly experiential-based learning, so other than the first six weeks we were in the field the entire time,\u201d she said. \u201cWe spent most of our time in host villages living and learning from different members of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The days\u2019 events and tasks ranged from meeting with government officials and local business men and women, to helping families clean their roofs and taking children to school. The topics of discussion ranged from overfishing to gender and religion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to be enrolled in a study abroad program that would give me something I wouldn\u2019t be able to get on my own,\u201d Clark said.\u00a0 Turns out that \u201csomething\u201d was a deep connection to \u201ccommunities and very rural areas in the mountains in northern Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Growing beyond graduation<\/strong><br \/>\nUsing the experiences she\u2019s had and the connections she\u2019s made during her three and half years at K, Clark hopes to continue lengthening the radius of her circle as she begins to prepare for life after Kalamazoo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have so many different areas of support here at K. School is something that I really value and enjoy. For my professors to be able to push me to be the best student I can be is special.<br \/>\n\u201cInstead of just telling me \u2018good work\u2019 sometimes my professors will tell me \u2018you can do better than this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With her senior tennis season surely at the front of her mind and set to get underway in less than a month, her goal after graduation is to join the Peace Corps.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say–and Clark has no doubt–that wherever her path leads her next, she\u2019ll be well-prepared.<\/p>\n<p>(<em>Text and photos by <strong>Kurt Miller<\/strong>, assistant sports information director<\/em>)<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7129"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9041,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7129\/revisions\/9041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7129"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=7129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}