Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of the spring season, the Upper Iowa Athletics Department is spending the next few months spotlighting many of our Peacock student-athletes whose spring seasons came to a premature end. 

In today's virtual interview, Pete the Peacock gets to know UIU lacrosse and basketball player Katie O'Brien. Katie is a freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio who came to Fayette last year from Lakota East High School. She is majoring in biology and chemistry with a minor in forensics.

PETE: How would you describe yourself in three words?    
KATIE: Outgoing, friendly, and big-hearted.

PETE: What made you want to be a collegiate student-athlete?    
KATIE: I have always been a student-athlete and it is a position that helps me push myself in my studies as well as the sports I play.

PETE: What have you learned about what it takes to be a student-athlete?    
KATIE: You must have a positive mindset, a can-do attitude, and a lot of grit. All three are needed to be successful.

PETE: What advice would you give to your 14-year old self?    
KATIE: The best thing that you can do for yourself in the following years is to know you can do it. There are going to be people that tell you that you are unable to accomplish things that you aspire to do, and once you let those words affect you... those beliefs of others become reality. It will be tough but keep the mindset that you can do it.

PETE: What is something most people don't know about you?    
KATIE: I have always wanted a cat but my parents are allergic so I have never been able to have one.

PETE: What is your favorite thing about your hometown?    
KATIE: I love how populated it is. There's always something going on and it's always busy.

PETE: What is your favorite thing about Fayette?    
KATIE: The people. The people make Fayette feel like home and I cannot wait to go back in the fall!

PETE: How do you want to be remembered?    
KATIE: I want to be remembered as the girl that pushed herself to achieve her dreams. The girl who despite any doubt or fear continued to believe that the perceived impossible can be possible.

PETE: What's the best thing that has happened to you in the last week?    
KATIE: I have been able to spend a lot of quality time with my family, despite the unfortunate circumstances of me being sent home.

PETE: What are the top three things on your bucket list?    
KATIE: Go bungee jumping, go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and learn how to surf.

PETE: What is your dream job if money wasn't a factor? Why?    
KATIE: I want to be a pediatrician because I love kids and being able to work with kids on a daily basis and help them feel better, it would be a dream come true.

PETE: Who are three people (dead or alive) you'd love to have dinner with? Why?    
KATIE: I would want to have dinner with Kobe Bryant because he was just an inspiring individual that had such a strong mindset and powerful work ethic, and I would love to hear how he kept going during times of doubt. I would also want to have dinner with Pat Summit. As an aspiring future basketball coach, I would ask her for her advice on coaching and her advice on how to inspire from within as well as how to create that winning nature that she so effortlessly possessed and shared. Lastly, I would want to have dinner with Lauren Hill. Lauren Hill was an aspiring basketball player that got her basketball life cut short when she found out she had a brain tumor and later passed away. Her dream was to play college sports in her case basketball. She continued to push herself even though she knew she didn't have much time. I would want to hear her story and her thoughts on pushing through the absolute toughest adversity and how she continued to tell herself she could do it.

PETE: What is your most memorable sports moment?    
KATIE: When my sister and I had the opportunity to play on the same team for one season during my senior year and her freshman year of high school.

PETE: What is your favorite home-cooked meal?    
KATIE: My mom's lasagna, without a doubt.

PETE: Do you have any collections? If so, what?    
KATIE: I collected little mementos from high school, like football game tickets, prom and homecoming corsages, and little notes or cards from people. I have started doing the same thing and I have quite a few things from my first year of college.

PETE: Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? If yes, why?    
KATIE: I wouldn't say that I don't believe in them, I just haven't been in a situation that has proven that they are real.

PETE: What is your dream vacation spot? Why? What would you want to do there?    
KATIE: I would want to go somewhere warm that has a beach. I love warm weather and the sun. I just feel happier when the weather is warm.

PETE: What is your favorite restaurant in the world? What do you order?    
KATIE: McCormick and Schmidts, I order cheesy potatoes and lobster.

PETE: What does your dream life after retirement look like?    
KATIE: Being healthy and my family being healthy, married to the love of my life, being a mom and then being a grandma, spending time with my siblings and their kids, and being able to look back on life with no regret.

PETE: What are three things you cannot live without? Why?    
KATIE: My family, my phone, and a purpose.

PETE: Where or who do you get your inspiration from?    
KATIE: I get my inspiration from my mom and dad, they work so hard to help me get everything in life that I hope for and that makes me want to show them it was worth it.

PETE: Do you play any musical instruments?    
KATIE: Piano and a little guitar.

PETE: If you had a podcast, what would it be about?    
KATIE: How to be outgoing and meet new people!

PETE: What would you bring on a one-way trip to Mars?    
KATIE: A space-safe camera, a selfie stick, and a spacesuit.

PETE: What is your go-to home workout?    
KATIE: Agility and ladder drills in the yard as well as wallball (lacrosse) and shooting on my hoop (basketball).

Special thanks to Katie O'Brien for taking the time to chat with Pete! To view previous virtual interviews, please click here.