Iowa State Cyclones Visit the Willard Wildcats
A Willard students asks a question of Iowa State athletes during a visit to the elementary school.
Willard Elementary principal Julie Kruse grew up in Carroll, Iowa before heading off to college at Iowa State University where she would earn a bachelor’s and two graduate degrees.
To put it mildly, she never forgot where she came from. Kruse is a season-ticket holder in both football and basketball at her alma mater and seldom misses a home game in either sport. She was tailgating, as usual, before this year’s first home football game when she saw ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard making the rounds, mingling with the Cyclone faithful.
Besides her ISU gear, Kruse put on her principal hat and took a what-have-I-got-to-lose shot. She invited Pollard to bring some Cyclone student-athletes to Willard to talk to her Wildcats. He accepted and followed up by e-mail the following week.
Arrangements were made and Thursday they came to fruition when a trio of Cyclones drove down from Ames and spent the morning at Willard, planting some seeds on behalf of a university long known for its prominence in agricultural sciences, among other fields.
Claire Ricketts from the women’s basketball team and footballers Cole Anderson and Michael Frankl also made a few hundred fans for themselves in the process.
By the time they arrived at 9:00 AM the pump was primed. Willard students were waiting in the school gym. Many of them, and many of their teachers, were decked in cardinal and gold. Cheerleaders shook blue and gold pom-poms but led yells on behalf of both schools.
By grade level, Willard kids stepped to the mic during a Q&A session to ask about everything from favorite toys (kindergarteners) to favorite classes (5th graders).
Anderson had a couple of answers that stood out, first when he broke the news (to those not already in the know) that recess goes away as you climb the educational ladder. That’s one of the reasons, he explained, why he took up sports, so he would still have playtime at school. As for favorite classes?
“When I was your ages my favorite was art class,” he said. “But now, in college, I like philosophy, mostly because there are no right or wrong answers. I get credit for whatever I think.”
After the Q&A, the visitors scrimmaged against the Wildcat basketball team, like three Gullivers against a team of Lilliputians. “Willard magic” was deafening and the contest was called while both teams were ahead.
The sign out front was tickering a message that read: Willard Elementary Welcomes Iowa State University… And how!
“I’m just a normal person,” Rickettts said in response to a question about why she and her fellow Cyclones put in all the work it takes to be a collegiate student-athlete. “But coming here and talking to you guys and seeing how excited you are to see us feels really awesome and I guess that’s part of what makes all our effort feel worth it.”
Frankl grew up in Ames dreaming of someday being a Cyclone. “Thanks to support from lots of people like my parents and coaches, I got that opportunity,” he said.
Judging from the show of hands when the audience was asked how many of them would like to go to Iowa State someday, there’s a lot of that general dream going around on the Willard side of town, thanks to a school principal who doesn’t necessarily take Saturdays off.
