Balancing school and home life can be difficult for most, but for 18-year-old, three-sport scholar-athlete Katie Morrison, it seems to be like clockwork. Morrison is a senior at Deptford High School who plays basketball, soccer and golf while participating in various clubs. Morrison, who balances school and activities, recently was recognized as one of the top scholar-athletes in South Jersey by the South Jersey Coaches Association. She has done this all while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average and being ranked 11th in her class.
Morrison explained what it is like to keep up with all of her activities.
“It’s definitely difficult, but the high school is very supportive of people that are involved in activities because they make it a lot easier with time management. My parents help out a lot to try to make things easier to manage,” said Morrison.
How Morrison is able to navigate her days is another challenge she manages well.
“The high school makes things so accessible, like club meetings can be during the day. That way I can go do sports at night, and the teachers give flexible homework schedules,” said Morrison. “My parents will do things like have dinner for me when I’m coming from school practice to club practice. When I have a lot of homework on top of that, they just try to eliminate as much stress as possible because it is a lot to do.”
Morrison holds the record for most three-pointers made in a season in Deptford High School with 54. Morrison helped lead her team to its first Liberty conference title in February.
“Playing in the conference was awesome. It was the first time we won a conference in the Liberty division,” she said. “When we started out, we had a very young team. We definitely had to build up to getting to it. It’s a lot of work in the summer and a lot of work in the off-season, but just to see the payoff was awesome.”
Morrison isn’t resting on her laurels. She understands that being a team player is more valuable than individual accolades. That is one of the reasons her basketball team was able to win the conference this past season, especially with a mixture of young and senior talent.
Morrison is currently playing club soccer and golf. In 2017, she and the soccer team were invited to play in a coaches tournament. In golf, Morrison has the lowest score for a female in Deptford High School golf history, as well as the lowest average for a female. She made second team all conference for golf, playing on the boy’s division golf team.
Her other activities include being a member of the biomedical STEM program and the National Honor Society. She is the vice president of student government.
Morrison keeps up with her work because quitting is not an option for her. She doesn’t want to let down those people around her, but she especially does not want to let herself down.
“There are going to be times where it’s hard and you want to quit, but the payoff is just so worth it,” she said. “Don’t give up and keep dealing with what you know. Do it as long as you are putting in your best, you will see that pay off.”
Morrison will be attending Kean University under the STEM Scholarship, which will cover 75 percent of her tuition. She plans to take part in the STEM program at the university as a biomedicine major as a pre-medical track toward a Phd. She will also be playing soccer at the university.
