By Megan Melone, Writer
Photography from McKendree Athletics
Martina Hicks is a senior biopsychology major with a minor in biology. Martina is the 2022-23 Academic All-GLVC and a recipient of the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award, as well as the secretary for SAAC (Student Athletic Advisory Committee).
I interviewed Martina about her time at McKendree and her plans for the future:
Where are you from?
HICKS: I am from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho originally. But the last four years I’ve lived in Hamilton, Montana.
Why did you decide to come to McKendree?
HICKS: My senior year was COVID. I originally was on the brink of playing golf in college. In Idaho, golf is a spring sport, so I didn’t get a spring season, and that made me push towards looking at schools. McKendree reached out to me, and it was the only school I got to visit before COVID shut everything down. I chose McKendree, and I’m happy about my choice.
Why did you decide on a biopsychology major?
HICKS: Originally I was biology pre-med, and I was wanting to go to medical school. Eventually, organic chemistry made me decide, I don’t really want to do this anymore. So I switched to biopsychology, and I picked biopsychology because you have so many options. You can do anything in psychology, and you can also work in the medical field.
What organizations are you involved in, besides women’s golf?
HICKS: I am the secretary of SAAC, which is the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. It’s really exciting. We put on events, and I run our social media. I am a part of the women’s golf team. And I work a lot.
Where do you work?
HICKS: I work at Stay Pressed Juice Co., which is by the MetroPlex. I work at Stonewolf Golf Course, I am a bartender and pro shop there. It’s one of the golf courses we practice at.
Tell me about women’s golf.
HICKS: Women’s golf is fun. A lot of people don’t know this, but we are a fall and spring sport. We kind of have a break in winter because we can’t golf due to snow. For fall, we are playing towards rank, but spring is much more serious because we have conference and regionals. My freshman year we had a good team. My sophomore year was the first year in a long time that the team made it to regionals, so that was really exciting. I have played in every tournament since I was a freshman. This year we have a really good team; we had two international freshmen come in and they’re both amazing. And we won two tournaments back to back in the fall, which has never been done in women’s golf history before. Going into the spring [we] were ranked pretty high, so we have a good chance of going to regionals this year.
What are your after-school plans?
HICKS: I’m actually going to do nothing … with the degree that I’ll graduate in, so that’s fun. As of right now, after I graduate, I am looking to start in the PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association) school to get my professional card, so I can teach golf and become a PGA pro at a golf course. I can’t do that unfortunately until after the last tournament because you can’t be a pro playing at amateur status, so I can’t do it while I’m in school. But I am looking to do that, and then I will go back home to Montana for a little while. I’ll work as a temporary assistant golf pro. Then I hope to move to Arizona and work in a golf club down there, for a little while.
Why Arizona?
HICKS: I like the weather a lot, and I know a lot of people down there. A lot of our family friends live down there, and Arizona is a hot spot for some of the best golf courses in the world. So, if I can work at one of those, that would be amazing.
Any advice for other students?
HICKS: I know a lot of people say this, but when you’re a freshman you don’t really believe it, but it goes by really quick. I feel like I just got here and I just met Charli, my roommate. Make good friends, it builds your college experience. If you have good friends, you are going to have a good time, no matter what. In school and sports, especially if you have a good sports team.
