Senior Spotlight: Danielle Powell, Penn State Scranton
Welcome to our Senior Spotlight series. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the PSUAC had to cancel its fall and winter sport seasons. This prevented several student-athletes from receiving a proper senior day and minimized opportunities for Player of the Week awards. In its place, we will highlight seniors from around the conference throughout the remainder of the semester.
See more Senior Spotlight highlights on our Twitter (@psuac) and Instagram (psuac)!
Name: Danielle Powell
Campus: Scranton
Primary Sport: Women's Basketball
Primary Position(s): Shooting Guard
Hometown: Bushkill, PA
High School: East Stroudsburg North
Major: Business Marketing and Management
Academic Achievements: PSUAC All-Academic 2018-19
Athletic Achievements: Player of the week for campus 2018-19-20
How did your Penn State education prepare you for life after graduation? My Penn state education taught me a lot about business ideas, such as investing, that will help me later on in life.
How do you hope to be remembered by teammates and coaches? As a determined player who always fought for themselves and others, on and off the court/field, no matter what.
What is your favorite memory from playing your sport at Penn State? My favorite memory is when we took Penn State Lehigh Valley into overtime. Even though we lost, I could tell my team and I were all having a really good time almost beating one of the best teams in our conference.
What is the best advice you ever received from a coach or teammate that you would share with other student-athletes? If someone else doesn’t see your true potential that’s on them, because you should always see it in yourself.
What are you most looking forward to post graduation? Or in your transition to University Park (or other campus) to finish your degree? I am really looking forward to investing in myself and using my degree to do so. I also want to use my degree to learn new things and get a better understanding of the business world.
What are some of the tools or skills that you learned through all the years of playing your sport that you plan to instill once you enter the workforce? 1. The harder the task, the stronger you grow 2. Not everyone learns or contributes the same, but all things contributed are crucial in achieving success. 3. Understanding others outside of yourself, and the same environment, can build better chemistry.
What impact did athletics have on your experience as a college student? What is your favorite memory outside of athletics during your time as a student-athlete? Athletics impacted my experience as a college student tremendously. I don’t think I would have been too keen in the idea of going to a four year college without them. My favorite memory outside of athletics as a student athlete was when I got to be a Pa announcer for other sporting events. I really enjoyed adding that contribution to the school because Pennstate Scranton didn’t previously have that position opportunity until I brought it up as a work study.
Please use this space to thank anyone you wish to acknowledge for their support during your academic and athletic career. I would like to take this spot to thank Sara Rinkunas, the athletic coordinator, for all her help in getting into the school to being with, to getting me back in sophomore year from a finacial aid mishap. I also want to thank all my teammates from basketball, volleyball and soccer. Even though I did not do both volleyball and soccer for very long I would never give up those experiences and memories from my year playing and practicing with the teams. I also would like to thank my boyfriend, Arel Lamour, for being so supportive over my years of basketball playing and encouraging me to be the best I could be and undoubtedly encouraging me.