Beach volleyball may not seem like a sport that many play, mostly because they don’t know there are local competitive leagues, but Kennedy Walgren made it possible. Kennedy committed to the University of Portland in June with a D1 full-ride scholarship. She has had rough patches on her journey, but she didn’t let them take her down, instead she used them as motivation.
Kennedy says, “My freshman year, I played for the high school. I was on JV. I was never on varsity the entire time I played here at the high school. Nobody really saw my potential.” Walgren felt out of place on the CHS volleyball team, so she decided to join a beach volleyball team. Soon after she was fully ready to show others what she could really do.
Even though she comes from a small town, Kennedy will do big things. She isn’t only going to the University of Portland for the sport, she strives to earn her teaching degree and become a teacher at Vale Elementary. She says,” I want to get my teaching degree when I go there. I want to get my bachelor’s degree in early elementary education and come back and be a valid teacher here. That would be my dream goal.”
Just like anyone else, Kennedy has her own battles. Kennedy’s mother got diagnosed with breast cancer during her sophomore year, so she couldn’t afford many of the travel expenses associated with competitive beach volleyball . Even though there were obstacles, she wouldn’t give up. Portland offered a full-ride scholarship, and she is extremely thankful for it.
“It was just kind of like, how am I gonna go to college if it’s not getting paid for? So it made me just, like, work harder, so I’m, …really…thankful that I had my mom behind me all the time.” Kennedy has goals set and has a future planned out. Even with this hard obstacle at a young age, she made it possible to not only show Cashmere her potential, but now she represents Portland.