Last year, her team was honored for their contributions to the community, but this year, the Seattle University athletics department had the opportunity to individually recognize Corinne Wurden of the women’s tennis team.
In 2012-13, the team earned the Team Mission Award, but this year, Wurden received the Individual Mission Award as the driving force behind the team’s community service work throughout her four years at Seattle U.
“I didn’t really know much about the Jesuit side of education at Seattle U, so when I came here and learned about the service learning, that really helped and got me interested,” Wurden says, looking back. “It’s so encouraged here so that’s definitely a big head start.”
Wurden organized a majority of the team’s service events, in large part with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a cause close to her heart as someone who has type one diabetes. With JDRF, they participated in the Dream Gala, Beat the Bridge, and the Gingerbread Village at Christmastime. She and the team have also organized pink matches the past two years to benefit research for cancers that affect women. Personally, when she’s not in season, she also donates blood on a regular basis.
“It’s sort of in my nature to try to help people. I think that’s why I wanted to do nursing as well.”
She plans to remain in Seattle and has a job at Swedish Hospital on the general surgical floor, assisting patients post-surgery. Eventually, she wants to get a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP) and work with kids who are newly diagnosed with diabetes, giving back to those much like herself.
“The Jesuit education is something I really value. Going to public school my whole life, I never learned that until I came here. Promoting a just and humane world is something I’ll always keep in the back of my head through my nursing career and other things I do for the community. Even in my exit survey for nursing, they asked us if we’d be working with the lower population, so it’s emphasized everywhere around here. It’s good to have that constant reminder of who actually needs the most help.”
Outside of service and academics, Wurden and her team earned several banner victories throughout the 2013-14 competition year, none more exciting than their 4-3 victory at Gonzaga on Feb. 7, 2014.
“We played Gonzaga in their brand new facility. It was gorgeous; just playing there was already exciting and we had never beaten them. We always knew we could, but they’re a very good team,” Wurden remembers.
An electric atmosphere, several Gonzaga student-athletes from other teams were in attendance to support their team, which provided even more spark to the fire for the Redhawks. The doubles point would come down to Sarah Lucas and Gabriella Weissmann in the No. 2 spot, which they clinched with a victory.
“Luckily, I played No. 6 [singles], so I was all the way at the other end. There weren’t as many people watching, which was kind of nice.”
The tide would turn as the Redhawks would take a 3-2 lead, with each team winning two singles matches. Gonzaga evened the score at three, as all eyes turned to Wurden.
“They have the scoreboards, so you can see everyone’s matches, so I had an idea how everyone was doing. “I was up, 4-3, and really stupidly, I looked to see how my other teammates had done. I saw Barbara Ann [Carey] and Sarah [Lucas] had won, and everyone else had lost, so I was like ‘Uh oh’, because it was three-all. And I was like ‘Why did I look?!’ because I knew it was down to just my match.”
Since all the other matches had finished, the rest of the two teams and fans in attendance moved to watch the final set – Wurden’s set.
“It was very nervewracking. I go up, 5-3, and I’m shaking as I serve the ball, because I’m so nervous. Then I get up, 40-15, and I get my first serve in and we play out that point and she hits it long. Everyone was just so excited, and I dropped my racket, because we’d just beaten Gonzaga.”
“Hands down, best moment.”
Wurden notes that one of her favorite parts of being both a student and an athlete at Seattle University is the sense of community and the family-type atmosphere of campus and the athletics department, specifically.
“I really like that I can be friends with freshmen I wouldn’t know from nursing or my other classes. I like expanding who I am friend with, and that’s really cool, because it can show how we’re different people, but we’ve been brought together to win and compete as a team. Because Seattle U is smaller, I know a lot of the student-athletes. I want to come back and watch tennis matches and other sports – soccer, basketball. I’ll miss sitting in the student section, though, and belonging to that community.”
Wurden will take so many lessons away from her time as a student, as well as a student-athlete in the Seattle U community, as she recently graduated in June 2014.
“It’s definitely taught me how to compete and how to compose myself in different situations. There will always be challenging situations and it’s helped me [determine] when I need to defend myself or in other things, you can just let it go.”
Her greatest encouragement for those trying to find a place in college is to “become involved in the school, whether it’s joining clubs or sports, you just meet a whole lot of different people. I think that enhances your college experience. Being involved, I’ve met so many different people that way and it helps you feel more a part of the community.”