ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3 35
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W O M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L F E A T U R E : B R I D G E T P E R R Y
BY KYLE CHARTERS
KCharters@GoldandBlack.com
B
ridget Perry had an epiphany recently.
It was over fall break when she was talking to
her twin brother and some of his friends while they
were home in Mooresville, Ind., for a few days.
"We would have conversations totally about engineer-
ing and science," said Bridget, a sophomore biomedical
engineering student, "and that's when I realized I'm a
nerd."
A basketball-playing nerd, as it happens.
Perry serves dual roles, each of them tugging at her
for precious time as she balances between the rigors
of being an engineering student at Purdue and being
a Boilermaker athlete. And she's successfully manag-
ing both, being a second-year engineering student —
the weed-out process is stringent, with a quarter of all
freshmen dropping out of the school before their junior
years — and a starter for the Boilermakers.
"I feel like I'm never stopping," she said. "People in
my major wonder how I am doing it and basketball, and
I don't even know sometimes. I'm going constantly, and
obviously have a lot less free time. Some people will be
going out on the weekends, and I'll be in studying. I
wonder how they have time.
"It's a choice and you just have to do it. You can't
just put things off. It's constantly trying to work ahead,
studying, using free time, and then some of the time
trying to find time for yourself. It's just a grind constant-
Tom Campbell
Bridget Perry has a busy schedule, with a tough academic
major plus required time on the basketball court, yet she's
found a balance.
