The moment Kayla Thompson realized she wanted to do track was after watching her older brother Stephen beat their high school’s 300-meter school record.
“I wish [track and field] had been a part of my life since I was [really young] because I wasn’t really introduced into the world of track and field until middle school,” she said, “and now I can’t get enough of it.”
Up until her sophomore year of high school, Thompson had only really competed in the sprints and hurdles. When one of her teammates had an ACL injury, that was when she felt her time came to try the long jump. The first time she tried it out, Thompson knew she would have to compete in the event.
Kayla Thompson
When Thompson was 9, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which took up a chunk of her parents’ savings. Her older brother also didn’t “follow through” with his original plan to complete college, which hindered her parents’ financial situation even further.
Near the end of her junior year, Thompson’s parents received an email they were both getting laid off from their jobs.
“When we sat down and they told me about [getting laid off] that basically meant I wasn’t going to school,” she said.
Along with qualifying for nationals all four years of high school, Thompson was working a part-time job and took online college courses through a post-secondary program her junior year. Not realizing whether or not she would be noticed by recruits, she persisted as if she would have to pay for college on her own. Then her high school coach started coming to her with college letters.
“I’m bringing these [letters] to my parents; I’m freaking out – they’re freaking out – and I realized I’m definitely going to school,” Thompson said.
Despite all of the schools that had contacted her and she had visited, Thompson only truly felt a sense of home at NKU.
“The people – I’ve never had a bad encounter with a single person [at NKU],” she said. “It just seems like everyone has a certain positivity.”
Along with working two or three jobs at any given time during her collegiate career, Thompson is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the Cincinnati area.
Because Thompson took advantage of getting college credit in high school, she is also expected to graduate early with a degree in psychological and behavioral sciences.
“I’m just excited to see what the future holds, because we want to be the very best and we want to see each other succeed,” Thompson said.
From NKU Athletics Communications
