FirstYearPodcast

Casey Fortune, a freshman studying kinesiology, interviews her friend Kara, a senior studying elementary education and special education, about their favorite place on campus, the Knapp Center. Kara explains that the Knapp Center is special to her because she practices there daily and plays home games there. Her favorite experience was hosting a postseason tournament and setting attendance records. She fell in love with the center during her first college visit and appreciates the spaciousness and lighting. The renovations over the years have made her love it even more. The Knapp Center became important to Kara during her sophomore year when she could finally explore campus. She enjoys the exciting atmosphere during games, with music, videos, and crowd energy, as well as the camaraderie with her teammates. Kara feels grateful and awestruck to be part of the experience and describes it as a dream come true. Hi, I'm Casey Fortune, and I am a freshman from Wisconsin studying kinesiology. I'm here in the podcast studio of Meredith Hall talking to my friend Kara. Kara, can you introduce yourself for listeners with your name, major, and year in college? Hi, I am Kara. I am a senior here at Drake, and I am studying elementary education and special education. Okay, so really quick, what brought you here to Drake? Originally, it was volleyball, where I met my wonderful friend Casey here, but also the academics. Okay, so on this episode of This Drake University Life, we're talking about favorite places on campus. Can you tell me what yours is? Oh, I would have to say my favorite place is the Knapp Center. Why is this place so special to you? Well, I get to go to it every day to be able to practice, and then we play our home games there, and it's just a really cool environment. Okay, tell me about your favorite experience in the Knapp. My favorite experience would probably be around a year ago at this time, we had hosted a post-season tournament, the championship, and we had set attendance records, and it was just really cool to be a part of that environment with so many people cheering for, like, our team. Yeah, for sure. So, what was your first experience in the Knapp Center? It was when I was around 17 years old, I came on my first college visit, and they took me into the Knapp Center, and I just fell in love with the feeling of being in there. What did you like about it? I just love how much, like, room there was, and I don't know, the lighting just kind of makes you feel like the center of attention, and from the court looking up, there's just so much room, and I don't know, I love it. I know the Knapp Center has, like, changed a little bit while you've been here, so has that, like, impacted your opinion of it at all? Right, it has actually made me love it more because it made the court, which, like, we use the most, like, the main point of it, and, like, the seats are made to sit up and look at the court, and in the past, it was just all kind of one level, so the construction over the past couple years has really made me love it more. Yeah, for sure. When did the Knapp Center, like, start to hold so much importance, like, to you on campus? When did it become one of your favorite places to go, one of your safe spaces? So I came in to college during COVID in 2020, so we were really, like, tied down to our dorms, and we weren't really allowed to go anywhere, so starting my sophomore year when things really started to open up, and that was a place we could go every day, and then I just made so many relationships with my teammates in there because we worked with them, so being able to go there my sophomore year and every day on for my career has just made it so special to me. Yeah, so can you compare, like, the atmosphere of games versus the atmosphere of just practicing in the Knapp Center, because obviously that's very different, you know, depending on the situation. Right, so during games we get to play our music and we get to play, like, our high video and run out in fog and blue lights and everything, so it just makes you get really excited for what's about to happen, and in practice we just, you just kind of play like it's a normal day, so it's still exciting to be, like, on that big court and makes you feel, like, all cool and stuff, but really during the game when they change the lights and you run out in fog and you hear the crowd riled up, it just, it's just a lot of fun. So how would you describe the feeling, like, being on the bench or being on the court in the Knapp Center during game time? So it's a very loud environment, and we have even gotten comments from other coaches in our league saying that we are the loudest bench, so we just have some of these crazy cheers, like, off the court, like, we're barking at other teams because, like, we're the dogs, and we're throwing our teammate and chugging, like, trains, so it's just really fun to be super loud, but it's not super obnoxious because the crowd is already so loud as well. Yeah, for sure. And, like, what does it feel like for you, I would say, like, in those moments? You've talked about how little girls, like, look up to that feeling their entire lives if you're playing volleyball, so how does that feel? I know you've kind of talked about being able to play with your friends and all of that, so is it, like, kind of an awestruck moment where you get to do it every single week and you're like, wow, this is just, I don't know, this is what people dream about? Right, so obviously there's only six people on the court that play, but everyone on the team, like, really has a big part in it, so whether you're getting a point on the court or cheering on the bench, like, it just really kind of is a dream come true to be a part of this experience. Like, dream come true is probably the exact way I would say it. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. What's your favorite part of the game? I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. I think it's the first half. What's the main thing that makes this place so special to you? What's the main thing that makes this place so special to you? I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that I definitely love that Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add Is there anything else you'd like to add