< well-known fact that varsity athletics takes up a lot of time, but Connor Kasch ’17 goes above and beyond in athletic commitment, being a member of the varsity women’s soccer team and Szygy, Carleton’s Division I frisbee team.
Kasch, a political science/international relations major from Marengo, Illinois was described by fellow teammate, Anna Huber ’19, as “someone whose name is pretty cool, but her personality is even better.” Similarly, Kasch was described by fellow Szygy teammate, Mackenzie Korpi as “passionate, outgoing and definitely a people-person.”
As a member of the soccer team, Kasch earned the All-Conference Sportsmanship award this year and was a regular starter at outside back. Kasch was a four-year letter winner and says that some of her favorite memories on the field include “last year the game on Bell versus GAC [Gustavus Adolphus College] which was fantastic.”
Kasch also recollected fondly when in her “sophomore year we played this game in a torrential downpour which was a blast. You could hardly see the other side of the field through the rain and the pitch was a minefield of giant puddles. I scored on a volley from the top of the box.”
Outside of her enjoyment of soccer at Carleton, Kasch also loves the fact that “there are quite a lot of opportunities to get involved on campus and in the Northfield community.”
Kasch not only finds time to play soccer, Frisbee and get involved in the community, but, as a student-athlete, she also focuses on her academic work. “I have been impressed with the quality of teaching at Carleton,” Kasch said. “I’ve never had a term where I didn’t have at least one class I was super excited about and all of the profs are approachable outside of class and generally passionate about the subject material.”
So what will Kasch do after Carleton? “[I’m] thinking about possibly using my experiences with athletics and strength training to be a strength coach in some capacity, maybe for a school like Carleton,” Kasch said. “But ideally I want to work abroad for a few years. I’ve lived in the Midwest my entire life and long term travel is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Truth be told I would be fine just working in a coffee shop in some foreign country. The main goal is to just get out, maybe learn a new language, gain a new perspective.”
Kasch has also applied for the Peace Corps and her hopes for her future career include working at an “NGO or policy think tank doing research.”
“I just don’t want to sit behind a desk all day,” she said. “I want to get out in the field and talk to people. While I like working with data, the prospect of being on a computer all the time sounds dreadful.”