Oct. 20, 2015
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) -- An all-conference performer for UCF track and field with a bachelor's degree already in her back pocket, Kalen Hambrick is adding something else to her resume: candidate for homecoming queen.
If it weren't for previous athletes, Lianne Maldonado (women's soccer) and Afia Charles (track and field), being on homecoming court two years ago, Hambrick would have never thought that this opportunity would be available to her.
"When I realized this will give me a chance to make athletics even more known and let everyone know we are people too and students just like everyone else, I was really interested," Hambrick said.
Hambrick didn't let her rejected application from a year ago deter her from trying again this year. Her persistence has been shaped in part from daily interactions with her throws coach, Jeff Chakouian.
"The thing we always try to do with Kalen is get better every day -- not just in track but in life," Chakouian said. "She is someone that in her five years has grown up a lot, had a lot of positive changes. I think she is a good representation of what someone would want out of a homecoming queen."
This experience is allowing Hambrick to break out of her athletic life and start networking with people she never thought she would meet.
"I feel like athletics is kind of in our own bubble and I'm trying to break us out of that bubble and get into the UCF community," Hambrick said. "I think this would be a great way to make some noise for athletics."
One of her goals through homecoming is to make connections between athletes and Greek life as well as others around campus. She has already had time to mingle with the other homecoming candidates, which has opened her eyes to the Greek world.
"You know what you see on TV but actually getting to meet them and know them personally.... My running mate is in ZBT (Michael Ingram) and he's amazing," Hambrick said. "I feel like I would have never met him if it weren't for Homecoming."
Her experiences abroad with Knights Without Borders to Costa Rica helped her to realize that she needed to get out of her comfort zone at home.
"Knights Without Borders was life changing, I don't know how else to explain it," Hambrick said. "Going over there, and being put in a different environment and being able to see people from all these different teams come together like that, it was ironic and I realized, why do I have to go to another country to do that?"
Hambrick is in the Student-Athlete Leadership Institute, and as social media coordinator for the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, she started WCW (Women Chat Wednesdays), giving female athletes a chance to talk and interact.
A redshirt senior, Hambrick already earned her bachelor's degree in criminal justice last December with a certificate in victim advocacy. She will get her master's degree in criminal justice in May.
"I know I'm not done growing but I feel so much growth happened in these last five years," Hambrick said. "To be able to do track and leave with a master's degree is going to be groundbreaking. I couldn't do it anywhere else."
Hambrick is the first of her family to leave college with a degree. Her family, team and coach have all supported her through her endeavors. Her family is what drives her to succeed in life, and her No. 1 motivation is her dad.
"He passed away my senior year of high school. He was driven," Hambrick said. "After dropping out in sixth grade, he started his own business, and I'm like, if I get a master's degree I'm pretty sure I can be successful too. I know that if I don't keep going I'm hurting (my family) instead of helping them."
Chakouian has been nothing short of a support system for Hambrick and has been there every step of the way through her UCF career. Considering how they met, it almost seems like fate that Hambrick ended up at UCF.
And now, five years later, if things go as the way she plans, she'll be Knight royalty.
"It was almost recruiting by accident. I showed up at a meet and she was there," Chakouian said. "To see five years later how much she has progressed -- she never even knew what a hammer was and now she's all conference and making it to the national championships. She has done more than that progression in life -- with her personality and being an adult. We've got her for one more year and then she'll be ready to take on the world."
Story by Christina Aguis