Lilly Coln '23
Athletic training
St. Louis, Missouri
Looking for a Christian school that allowed her to major in athletic training and play field hockey, Lilly Coln ’23 found exactly what she needed at Messiah.
“I played sports all though high school, and our athletic trainer at school answered my questions. I interacted with her a lot, because I was injured a lot,” she said.
Soon, she began her college career and joined the field hockey team.
She credits Director of Sports Medicine Megan Fowler with setting a great example as an athletic trainer and work-study supervisor during field hockey games, wrestling tournaments and track meets.
“Seeing how she interacts with athletes, if I’m even half the person she is, I’m doing pretty good,” said Coln. “She’s not perfect and doesn’t pretend to be. She has a lot of great qualities I look up to.”
Coln’s academic advisor, Brenda White, senior lecturer in athletic training, also played a pivotal role in her Messiah experience.
“If I’m struggling with something academically, emotionally or spiritually, she wants to know how we are, not just in academics but as people. She pushes me to do the more Christ-like thing in a situation,” she said.
Why is Coln speaking in present tense? Because even though she just graduated with a bachelor’s, she’s continuing in the Master of Science in Athletic Training degree. So, immediately after Commencement, she started a May-term graduate class.
Hard work is something she’s used to. As a member of American Heritage Girls (AHG), a faith-based character development program, she earned the organization’s highest honor: the Stars and Stripes Award, which involves creating a community service project.
“It’s like being an Eagle Scout, but harder,” she explained. “You have to put in 100 hours total, but I did twice that.”
She created a Christian outreach tutoring program to help students with reading—a program that continues to this day in her hometown of St. Louis. As someone who was homeschooled until the 8th grade, she says she now sees all the hard work her mom put into her upbringing.
“We knocked heads a lot when I was growing up, especially in high school,” said Coln. “I’ve grown to appreciate her more. She’s a strong Christian woman. If I’m ever a mom, I’d want to do what she did.”
In another year, Coln will be a double alumna with an MSAT. She summed up her passion for the major with a single sentence: “Athletic training as a career is a way to stay around sports without playing sports.”
— Anna Seip