Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a minor in biology from University of Texas Permian Basin, Olivia Rees has traveled thousands of miles to get to this point.
Having grown up in Preston, England, Rees is a transfer to UTPB from Hill College. The 22-year-old has been at UTPB for about two and a half years.
One of UTPB’s graduations is being held at 6 p.m. today at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center. Rees, who is from Preston, England, will graduate at 2 p.m. Saturday. The College of Business will graduate at 10 a.m. Saturday. There will also be live feeds of the ceremony. UTPB said 616 students applied for graduation.
Graduation is a scary concept to Rees because all she’s ever known in the U.S. is school.
“… I’ve been in the college surroundings; the college setting so … making the jump into professional life is going to be different. But … my experiences, my internships I’ve had, I know what I’m … going into, and the daily grind of the nine to five is something I’m excited for,” Rees said.
Rees has secured a job at Baylor Scott & White Hospital in Dallas as a cardiac exercise physiologist.
“It was definitely one of the options. It was my goal. Definitely after this year of looking into the field, it was one of the main ones I wanted to go into,” Rees said.
This semester, she shadowed an exercise physiologist at Medical Center Hospital.
“The hours and experience I got, I really fell in love with the passion to help cardiac patients. I saw myself doing this as my full time job, so I applied and Baylor Scott & White is one of the biggest medical institutions in Texas, so it was great. I’m lucky to have that. I have a secure job after graduation,” she added.
A midfielder on the UTPB soccer team, Rees also is a referee and has a coaching license.
“I play soccer and I got a chance to come over on a soccer scholarship, so I got recruited. I had an agent home and they have contacts over here. I got picked up originally by Hill College and then I had a pretty successful career there. And then I wanted to progress and complete my degree and UTPB was a great fit for me,” Rees said.
“I never wanted to go pro, so that wasn’t my intention, but it’s more for the studies. Like the field of sports medicine over here is bigger and better. There’s more opportunity over here, so for the field that I’m going into it’s more diverse,” she added.
She said the career services department at UTPB has been very helpful. Rees added that other student athletes should take advantage of it while they are there.
Rees is graduating with a 4.0 GPA.
Long-term, Rees said she hopes to stay in the United States and work toward citizenship.
She said the program at UTPB is building and the community is what got them through the past two and a half years.
The program also has undergone a lot of changes.
“I’ve been through two coaches in two years. We’ve definitely made steps. Every year has been a progression …,” Rees said.
She added that success for the soccer team is not based on wins or losses. It’s based on improvement week by week and whether the team has grown as people and as a team.
Rees said she’s sad to be leaving because she sees good things ahead for the team and the Kirk D. Edwards Family Human Performance Center is a Division I-caliber facility.
She added that being a student athlete is a full-time job.
“I mean, we got class (in the) mornings and then straight to lift and practice and then we have recovery and everything in between …,” Rees said.
The main culture shock of coming to America and West Texas was the food. She said there’s virtually nothing but fast food here.
“… I could count on one hand how many times I’ve had a home cooked meal. … ,” Rees said.
It was the hospitality that drew her to Texas. She first came in 2015 with her club team and they played in the Dallas International Girls Cup.
That was where she heard presentations about how she and her teammates could get scholarships.
“I was 15 then and I didn’t really think anything about it. But you know, I went home and a few of my friends …talked about it and we all ended up there’s like three of us all came to different universities,” Rees said.
She had a host family in Texas before that she still stays with and she’s planning to spend Christmas with them.
“(They) still welcome me in and open their house, so definitely the hospitality is what brought me here,” Rees said.
Like a lot of people, Rees had the vision of Texas with cowboy hats, horses and guns. She can tell who is from the city and who is from the country by their accents.
“… I’ve learned to talk slower and … my accent kind of comes out here and there, but I’ve been here for about two years and being around the y’all and all that stuff. I’ve definitely taken that on. …,” she said.
