Princeton University Athletics
Photo by: Beverly Schaefer
Tiger Talks: Alex Wheatley '16
January 25, 2017 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON, N.J. "Over my four years at Princeton, my team traveled across sixteen states and two countries, went to three NCAA tournaments, and won our first NCAA tournament game with President Obama cheering us on from the stands."
Tiger Talks features discussions from former Tigers about their experience at Princeton. This week is Alex Wheatley '16.
Wheatley is the Frederick P. Hitz '61 Scholar in the Nation's Service. Passionate about global health and epidemiology, Alex will work as a fellow at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia this summer, as the first part of her fellowship work.
Here's Alex's story…  Â
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Over my four years at Princeton, my team traveled across sixteen states and two countries, went to three NCAA tournaments, and won our first NCAA tournament game with President Obama cheering us on from the stands. Our career also featured visits in the stands by some of our most famous alumni: Michelle Obama, Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, and former senator and NBA champion Bill Bradley. We were titled "America's team," with our season all over ESPN as the last undefeated team in the country. My teammates became lifelong friends. My coaches were (and are) incredible mentors and friends. I am so lucky to have experienced Princeton alongside the strong, kind, intelligent, inspiring women in the Princeton basketball family.
Now, I get to do Princeton again, as a graduate student. This time I'm on my own. I returned to Princeton this past fall as a SINSI Scholar, one of five students each year accepted into a four-year fellowship/scholarship program for Princeton students interested in public service. I'll begin two years of fellowship this summer and return to Princeton in the fall of 2019. I will graduate with a Masters in Public Affairs in June 2020. This go around, I'm a scholar, not a scholar-athlete.
Life is different in this new form. I'm taking economics classes rather than biology classes. I don't have practice, games, lifts, conditioning, time in the training room, or my classmates Annie (Tarakchian), Michelle (Miller), Taylor (Williams), and Amanda (Berntsen).
I still play basketball, but it's casual now: pickup and intramurals, just me and the guys. I have given up my uniform for my alumni gear, as I watch this new Tiger squad. I'm the proud alum going crazy in the stands at every home game. My year in grad school has shown me what a special group my teammates were, and how lucky we were to share Princeton—classes and friendships and practices—with each other.
The best part about Princeton continues to be the people. A sense of community pervades this place. My new group isn't quite as huggy/sweaty/competitive as my first Tiger family, but this place is still full of kind, brilliant, and fun people.
The opportunity to do Princeton twice is not one that I take lightly. Princeton made me strong—it was that second 17, those grueling practices, those last two minutes of a tight game, that late night study session and early morning lift. I found my closest friends here and learned my own strength. I learned to use my voice: in game and in the classroom. I learned about excellence and I lived with and witnessed so much compassion. As I tackle and embrace Princeton this second time, I cherish this place and this experience yet again. Lucky me!
Tiger Talks features discussions from former Tigers about their experience at Princeton. This week is Alex Wheatley '16.
Wheatley is the Frederick P. Hitz '61 Scholar in the Nation's Service. Passionate about global health and epidemiology, Alex will work as a fellow at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia this summer, as the first part of her fellowship work.
Here's Alex's story…  Â
     Â
Over my four years at Princeton, my team traveled across sixteen states and two countries, went to three NCAA tournaments, and won our first NCAA tournament game with President Obama cheering us on from the stands. Our career also featured visits in the stands by some of our most famous alumni: Michelle Obama, Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, and former senator and NBA champion Bill Bradley. We were titled "America's team," with our season all over ESPN as the last undefeated team in the country. My teammates became lifelong friends. My coaches were (and are) incredible mentors and friends. I am so lucky to have experienced Princeton alongside the strong, kind, intelligent, inspiring women in the Princeton basketball family.
Now, I get to do Princeton again, as a graduate student. This time I'm on my own. I returned to Princeton this past fall as a SINSI Scholar, one of five students each year accepted into a four-year fellowship/scholarship program for Princeton students interested in public service. I'll begin two years of fellowship this summer and return to Princeton in the fall of 2019. I will graduate with a Masters in Public Affairs in June 2020. This go around, I'm a scholar, not a scholar-athlete.
Life is different in this new form. I'm taking economics classes rather than biology classes. I don't have practice, games, lifts, conditioning, time in the training room, or my classmates Annie (Tarakchian), Michelle (Miller), Taylor (Williams), and Amanda (Berntsen).
I still play basketball, but it's casual now: pickup and intramurals, just me and the guys. I have given up my uniform for my alumni gear, as I watch this new Tiger squad. I'm the proud alum going crazy in the stands at every home game. My year in grad school has shown me what a special group my teammates were, and how lucky we were to share Princeton—classes and friendships and practices—with each other.
The best part about Princeton continues to be the people. A sense of community pervades this place. My new group isn't quite as huggy/sweaty/competitive as my first Tiger family, but this place is still full of kind, brilliant, and fun people.
The opportunity to do Princeton twice is not one that I take lightly. Princeton made me strong—it was that second 17, those grueling practices, those last two minutes of a tight game, that late night study session and early morning lift. I found my closest friends here and learned my own strength. I learned to use my voice: in game and in the classroom. I learned about excellence and I lived with and witnessed so much compassion. As I tackle and embrace Princeton this second time, I cherish this place and this experience yet again. Lucky me!
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