Wildcast: 2024-25 Scholar-Athletes of the Year

00:00:00 Carlos Ramos: Welcome to a special summer edition of The Tomorrow Makers Podcast. Today we're featuring the second of two episodes of WildCast, the new podcast from Penn College Wildcat Athletics. In this episode, host Matt Blymier chats with Scholar-Athletes of the Year, Walt Heiser and Kayleigh Miller. We hope you enjoy. 00:00:29 Matt Blymier: Welcome to this episode of Wild Cast. I'm your host, Matt Blymier. Our guests today are the Scholar-Athletes of the Year for Penn College Athletics, Walt Heiser and Kayleigh Miller. Both Walt and Kayleigh are officers of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Walt was the president last year and Kayleigh was the vice president. They also have another thing in common. They were both Elite 20 United East selections for their sport, which goes to a player on a championship playoff team with the highest GPA. Walt won that award just recently. Kayleigh has actually won that twice in two different sports in cross country and women's basketball and she was named the United East Senior Scholar Athlete last winter. Thanks for joining us. 00:01:21 Walt Heiser: Pleasure being here. 00:01:22 Matt Blymier: So let's talk about the journey to Penn College. Kayleigh, we'll start with you as a high school student, you were looking for colleges. What about Penn College intrigued you and tell us about your recruiting process with, coach Mohney and, and her effort to get you here. 00:01:38 Kayleigh Miller: I wanted to go somewhere close to home, but yet still far enough away. So Penn College is an hour and a half from my home. Coach Mohney like toured me around the school and we sat in this conference room and just went over like her coaching philosophy and I met some of the team I got to sit on and not practice and just talking with her and all, of the girls on the team at that time, it just felt like a fit. It felt like an instant family. This was a place that I wanted to be. The campus was, small but had really nice facilities and I just fell in love with it and I really wanted to come here after talking with her and meeting some of the girls on the team. 00:02:13 Matt Blymier: How big of a role did athletics play in your decision? If we didn't have basketball or coach Mohney wasn't one recruiting you, do you think you would've ended up here? 00:02:24 Kayleigh Miller: I. I don't think so. I really wanted to play basketball in college. My senior year was when I found out that I really wanted to continue to play basketball. I didn't want my journey to end for my basketball career yet. Basketball's always played a huge part in my life and it brings my family together to come and see me play. So basketball was a huge reason of me coming to Penn College. 00:02:43 Matt Blymier: Walt, same question. Your journey. Coach Williams told me that your high school was. Given Penn College, several students and several student athletes, I'm sure Penn College, was familiar to you, to a degree. Talk about your recruiting process and your journey from, high school to Penn College. 00:02:57 Walt Heiser: It was actually kind of funny. I had no idea about Penn College when I originally started. I guess I toured here. I had no intention of going to college. Off the bat, I was gonna go to community college. If anything, my high school lacrosse coach reached out to me because Coach Williams reached out to him and my high school coach said, I think this would be a really good fit for you. I think you should pursue this opportunity. He wanted to see me play in college. I didn't think I was good enough. I thought I was done. I thought my career was over. My high school coach reached out, said, I think you should really pursue this. I think it'd be a great fit, and ended up touring the school, talking with Coach Williams and end of interview told me, if you wanna spot on the team, you have it, which to me was a shock because he actually never seen me play or anything. I, I fell in love with the school when he toured and I on the spot said, yeah, I, I wanna be a part of the program because it was the first recruiting class for, for lacrosse. That was our first year that we were a DIII program. I can't imagine it any other way now. People always talk about a dream school and finding the right one. I know so many people that they go what they think is their dream school, and then they leave. They don't like it. They hate the campus, don't like the academic portion, they don't like athletics. I couldn't have found a better fit. I found a diamond in the rough for me. Everything about the school has been pheno, a phenomenal experience. 00:04:20 Matt Blymier: Part of the criteria for scholar athlete of the year, an award that the department gives annually is you have to be a significant contributor or starter on your team, but you have to excel in the classroom and you have to give back in the community. Obviously, both of you are not only key contributors to your team, you're both starters. at various points throughout your career. You both have 4.0 grade point averages, so congrats on that. But a big part, and a reason why you guys were awarded that is giving back to the community, not just Penn College, but outside. Like I mentioned in the opener, you're both officers and sac that takes time, away from other things, but it's something that you both decided to do to give back. So what, we'll start with you on the giving back piece. You're very involved in your programs' community service, which is tremendous. I think you guys have won three of the last four community service awards that the department gives to a program, and Coach Williams says, you're the, you're the leader of that. What in you do you have that makes you want to give back and, and, you know, make some sacrifices, which is probably time, effort, and energy that could be focused somewhere else that, that you put in, into that endeavor. 00:05:35 Walt Heiser: For me that Coach Williams always talks about, and I couldn't agree more. The life's all about connections and any community service opportunity is an opportunity to build more connections, let alone who doesn't like to help somebody else. For me, it's easy with lacrosse because he sets up a lot of the events and everything, so it's easy for me to get guys to go and take the lead. Or the most recent one I think that I can remember was going to the Pennsylvania Central Food Bank and packing up boxes. Think we had 30 guys at the time. You get there, some guys are a little standoffish about it, but then five minutes in, everybody's having a blast. We're listening to music, packing up boxes, and then next thing you know, an hour goes by, I forget how many boxes. We pack. 200, say 200 boxes for food, for people in need. You gave an hour of your time, you got to get closer with your teammates, and then you just helped X amount of families. I never looked at it as a burden, like talk about the time commitment. It's somebody. It's a benefit. It's always a good time, especially you going with the right attitude. It's a blast to go out, especially in the community. I always like that because a lot of the stuff we do is in Williamsport. We go down on our spring breaks, we go to the Carolinas and we help out down there, which it's crazy how much of an impact we can have. But around the school I love it because it's making a direct impact on the community that gave so much to me. Penn College has done so much for me. I've gotten so many opportunities, too many to count, so it's great to be able to give back to the area that gave me such a great time. 00:07:04 Matt Blymier: Kayleigh, you as well were actively involved, not only in the department, but other clubs and orgs outside. What in you made you wanna give back and, and put time elsewhere away from academics and athletics? 00:07:18 Kayleigh Miller: It's a great feeling when you put a smile on someone's face or make someone's day. We recently as a basketball team, went to the Williamsport Home and did bingo with them, and it was just great having so much fun and being able to contribute to that person's happiness for that day. I'm also involved in Penn College Benefiting THON, so we raise money to help Penn State THION. So it's just a really great cause you meet a lot of good people and it's just amazing feeling to be a part of that. Our small number, the money we raised to go to Penn State THON and to raise millions of dollars every year for them. So it's a really great failing to give back to people in our community. 00:07:54 Matt Blymier: Kayleigh, your nickname is Six now this says. This has changed over years. Tell us the origin of Six, where it started and how it became Six. 00:08:05 Walt Heiser: I'm interested in that press too. I started seeing, I'm like, what in the world. 00:08:09 Kayleigh Miller: So my freshman year, one day at practice, I got a whole bunch of rebounds and I'm, I'm pretty small. I'm like one of the smaller girls on the team, and coach just called me a nugget. She goes, you did a great job today. You're a little nugget like running all over the place, like grabbing rebounds. So then later that practice I was shooting a foul shot and Emily Pardee just said six piece nugget. So then everybody laughed, and then after that Rachel and Emory were like, can we call you Six Piece? So I'm like, sure, I don't care. And then it evolved to just Six for short. And there were games that I had like so many threes or like scored 20 points. I'd be upgraded to a 20 Piece, but Six Piece stuck. And then just Six for short, since it's a little easier to say. 00:08:48 Matt Blymier: Yeah. Was it, it was Six Piece for at least a season or two. Right. And recently, maybe end of your junior, senior year, it just became Six. Oh, it's just Six. 00:08:57 Kayleigh Miller: Yeah, it was Six Piece for a while. Just either people call me Kayleigh or Six Piece. There is no in between. And now everyone calls me Six. 00:09:04 Matt Blymier: What do you think about that, Walt? 00:09:05 Walt Heiser: That's awesome. I think it's a pretty cool nickname. 00:09:08 Kayleigh Miller: A lot of people ask me, is six your favorite number, like 6, your number? I'm like, you can't be number six in basketball. And no, it's not my favorite number. It's just, just my nickname. 00:09:16 Walt Heiser: That's the nickname. That's awesome. 00:09:17 Matt Blymier: Walt, you also have a unique thing that you're known for, is the Alabama hat. 00:09:22 Walt Heiser: It's glued my head. I don't think anybody thinks that I have hair underneath there. 00:09:25 Matt Blymier: I'm positive you wear it under your helmet, if you could. Why Bama? Why the, why the Alabama hat all the time and how many Alabama hats do you own? 00:09:33 Walt Heiser: So it's really nothing. It's not any crazy story. My dad's just always been an Alabama fan. He is a real big guy, so everybody asks him like, did you play in Alabama? He is like, no, he never went to college, but he's like, 6' 5", 300 pounds. So everybody's like, oh, you're like a guard or something. It's like, nah, I wasn't, but he was always an Alabama fan and more so a Nick Saban fan. And I just kind of grabbed that from him. Same thing, I'm an Eagles fan 'cause of my grandfather. I just kind of followed the, followed the bandwagon I guess. I just always loved Alabama and I, I'm colorblind, but my favorite color is red. Color deficient technically is the... 00:10:04 Matt Blymier: There you go. 00:10:05 Walt Heiser: Yeah. I'm not colorblind. I could see colors, but, I always, I really like the color red. Love the team. And I've been wearing an Alabama hat since eight, nine years old. 00:10:15 Matt Blymier: You get a new one every year, 00:10:16 Walt Heiser: So I used to never get a new one every year. I had one from when in my middle school years for a long time, that was a one size fits all the hats they had like just a band on 'em There's no adjustment. Then I had one all throughout high school and everybody kept telling me, you have to get a new hat. And I was like, what are you talking about? This thing's in great shape. Until I got a new one, I didn't realize how bad shape it was actually in. Actually when I left my senior year, my last day I went around and got everybody to sign the brim underneath my hat just as like a commemoration of my four years in high school because everybody knows me for the Alabama hat and high school. Now in college, everybody always sees the hat, you know, like you're at a party or something. Everybody, they look for the hat. 00:11:01 Matt Blymier: And it's always a red one with the white A. 00:11:03 Walt Heiser: Always a red one With the white A. I do have... 00:11:04 Matt Blymier: Do you have a hounds tooth? 00:11:05 Walt Heiser: I do. I do. 00:11:07 Matt Blymier: You have a hound? 00:11:08 Walt Heiser: Yeah, I have a, I have a derby with a hound, with a hound suit. Not a hat, but like a, 00:11:12 Matt Blymier: yeah, 00:11:13 Walt Heiser: like a little, a little derby. 00:11:15 Matt Blymier: A nod to Bear Bryant. 00:11:16 Walt Heiser: Yeah. I got, so I, I got so many skull caps. I have a, like, you know, like a bomber cap with the flip-up, so I have... 00:11:24 Matt Blymier: Yeah, yeah. 00:11:25 Walt Heiser: I have an Alabama hat and that doesn't fit my head though. It's too small now and then, oh geez. I got camo ones. I got white ones. I got, I have a visor. I have. I think I have six. I have six or seven red ones like this that I've been through now in college. I get a new one every year. So I have six or seven of these. 00:11:46 Matt Blymier: Nice. 00:11:46 Walt Heiser: And then I don't know how many other, I probably, I probably have 15, 15, 20 different Alabama hats. 00:11:53 Matt Blymier: I'm glad we got to the bottom of that. Kayleigh. Favorite moments in four years? You, you've done a, you've experienced a lot on and off the court. Is there a favorite moment that jumps out to you of your experience here? 00:12:05 Kayleigh Miller: I would say when we beat Morrisville at Morrisville in overtime, that was a huge game. They were like top of our conference and we were projected to get killed by them, and we just went there. We played with confidence. It was just a very exciting like back and forth game and I just remember celebrating with my teammates, like on the court and in the locker room after the game. It's just a memory I'll never forget. 00:12:28 Matt Blymier: Well, how about you? Favorite moment? 00:12:30 Walt Heiser: This year was full of them. We beat four teams that we had never beaten prior, so every single one of those games was phenomenal, but the one that really sticks me was Misericordia, which was their first, I guess revenge, revenge game years previous, we got killed in a scrimmage two years ago. Last year we played him for our season opener. We ended up getting snowed out and we had to play on a Sunday, and I don't even remember what the score was. It was not good. 15-3 or something like that. And then this year, completely flipped the score. I think we beat him 16-3 or something. We ended up flipping it and winning by another goal. So to see the progression, right off the bat was great to see. And obviously for me it's crazy because of the program's so new and to see where we came from my freshman year, like so with the first recruiting class to now. That has been my favorite to see just the growth and people come, people go and people develop. It's been awesome to see and be a part of that process. 00:13:30 Matt Blymier: Yeah, you're both kinda athletically on the ground floor of rebuilding programs. Walt you came into a very new program. Kayleigh, you came into a program that was needing a rebuild. There were, especially in women's basketball, there were some lean years early and then, you know, your senior year, your last two years, postseason teams. This year, top four seed. Talk about the growth of the program being there at, you know, as a foundation for what this program eventually became then, your senior year. 00:14:03 Kayleigh Miller: It's crazy 'cause not only our record improved over my four years, but our talent got better. We grew stronger together as a team. I really felt this year, like our culture improved so much from, from when I first came here and I felt more connected as a team. We did a lot more as a team, and I felt like there was more team chemistry just building on that four years that I've been here. So it was really awesome to see how everybody improved on the court and off the court. Like we're always there for each other. If you need anything, you know, you can call someone. And I felt like it wasn't really like that my freshman year because it was still so new and everyone was just figuring out like where they were. So it's awesome to see the growth, not just record wise and talent wise, but as individuals and together how we've really grown as a team. 00:14:49 Matt Blymier: We are recording this a Thursday before commencement week. And Walt, you have a big, you have a big weekend coming up, commencement speaker. Congratulations. 00:14:56 Walt Heiser: Appreciate it. Thank you very much. 00:14:57 Matt Blymier: How's the speech going? 00:14:58 Walt Heiser: It's, it's going, I've been very busy with other stuff, so I haven't really got to sit down and crack into it as much as I'd like, but I, I'm excited. 00:15:05 Matt Blymier: Tick tock, man. I mean, 00:15:07 Walt Heiser: I know, I know. I gotta go. Let's due actually later today. 00:15:10 Matt Blymier: Geez. 00:15:11 Walt Heiser: But I got, I got like halfway done. Three quarters of way done. 00:15:13 Matt Blymier: What's next for you after commencement? What's, what's next for Heiser, HVAC major? What's, what's, what's the next, few years look like for you? 00:15:21 Walt Heiser: So, right now, originally, I, I've been interning with a company in Allentown for the past three years, which it's been a blast there. They've given me so many opportunities. But currently I started this semester working part-time for a company out of Berthoud, Colorado, called Energy Logic, doing remote work, doing HVAC designs for them, for residential companies, and they do large custom homes. And they work for tract builders. So building developments and stuff like that. So I've been doing that part-time. I'm gonna continue doing that for a couple months, take a little bit time for myself, get all my ducks in a row, figure out what I wanna do. 'cause the swirl of college has been a lot. So I want to take, take a couple months, settle down and really get my internal compass straight and figure out what I wanna rock into and pick for the next 40 years. But the goal origin right now is to work, keep working for the company Colorado for the next two, three months and then come from September, start working back for the company in Allentown. Full-time. 00:16:17 Matt Blymier: Very nice. Kayleigh, you're gonna continue your education. It's gonna be a little chilly, I think. Tell us your next step. 00:16:23 Kayleigh Miller: Yeah. I'm gonna get my master's degree in sport administration starting this fall at St. Bonaventure University, so in New York. 00:16:31 Matt Blymier: Very nice. What's the end goal for you? 00:16:33 Kayleigh Miller: I wanna work in the sport industry, either in like marketing and promotions or like more the event planning side and facility management. So my plan is I'm gonna work in their athletic department and intern with their marketing coordinator just to see where exactly I wanna work in the sports industry. 00:16:48 Matt Blymier: All right. Final question. Any advice, Walt, for future or current Wildcats? 00:16:55 Walt Heiser: It's all about making connections. Talk to people, engage. The other thing, don't be too cool for anything. That's something that always kind of bothered me. The people all around, and not that they're too good for everything, but they don't care about anything. It's okay to whatever your hobby is. Anything you do, enjoy it and love it. Don't worry about what anybody thinks about it. If you crochet, if you read, enjoy it. That's you. That's your authentic self. Don't change for anybody. 00:17:24 Matt Blymier: Nice. Kayleigh, how about you? 00:17:25 Kayleigh Miller: Always work hard, even when you feel like giving up or the hard work's not gonna pay off. Hard work will always pay off. So just keep working hard and you gotta do what you love. Like make sure you're having fun, work hard, but make sure you're also spending time doing things you love and the things you're doing that you enjoy doing them. So work hard and have fun. 00:17:41 Matt Blymier: Well, both of you, on behalf of the department, thank you so much for your contributions to this department over the last four years. I hope you got out of it as much as we got out of watching and enjoying and, and appreciating what you have given back to this department. So thank you so much. we look forward to your future journeys and we always keep track of, how our graduates do. But it's, been a pleasure. So thank you so much. 00:18:05 Kayleigh Miller: Okay. Thank you. Thank you for having us. 00:18:08 Matt Blymier: And that wraps up this edition of WildCast.