Illinois Wesleyan senior outside hitter Rachel Burkman (Mokena, Ill., Lincoln-Way North HS) has been chosen "Offensive Player of the Week" in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin three times this season and has been selected to seven all-tournament teams in her career.
A first team all-CCIW player as a junior and second team all-CCIW as a sophomore, she is a three-year letterwinner at IWU. Heading into the CCIW postseason tournament (Nov. 1, 2018) she ranks No. 11 in career kills (with 1,211), No. 7 in attack attempts (3,435) and No. 17 in attack percentage (.237) in Illinois Wesleyan records.
A nursing major at Illinois Wesleyan, she is the daughter of Bryce and Peggy Burkman.
Why you chose to attend Illinois Wesleyan: I was looking for a school with a competitive nursing school with a good reputation, and also a place that I could play volleyball. IWU fit both of these categories!
IWU class you’re most qualified to teach: Considering all my nursing professors have PhDs, I feel extremely unqualified to teach any of those courses. If we had a "Volleyball 101" class, then I think I’d be pretty good at that.
The hardest challenge about being a Division III student-athlete is: balancing academics and the time commitment of being an athlete.
Worst grade in a class you ever got – what and when? I got a B+ in my gateway class freshman year… Sex, disease, and medicine in Medieval Europe.
I’m deathly afraid of ... : ghosts
Worst habit: playing with my hair.
Most expensive traffic ticket: I’ve never had one!! Fingers crossed it stays that way.
Language I’d like to learn: American Sign Language
The longest I could survive without my cell phone: Probably a couple days. My mom texts me a lot so it couldn’t be too long.
One word your mother or father would use to describe you: “driven”
Favorite sports figures: Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Kerri Walsh
My greatest moment in sports was: when we hosted the NCAAs last year!
The best player I ever faced was: in high school, the current starting outside hitter for Wisconsin was in our conference.
Worst dresser on my team: yikes, Leah and I probably tie for this one.
Thing that’s been in my fridge the longest: butter – it lasts a while.
Person I’m dying to have dinner with: My best friends from home, I miss those people.
Favorite food: Cheese
Vegetable I won’t eat: I don’t discriminate against any vegetables.
Pepsi or Coke? Coke, preferably from McDonalds.
Favorite TV show: "The Office"
Favorite musical group: this is too hard. I like too many different genres to just pick one group.
Favorite movie: "Good Will Hunting"
If a movie were made of my life, I would like the following person to play me: someone sarcastic like Tina Fey
If my life were on TV as a reality show, I’d call it: “Rachel: Queen Of Naps”
The person in history I would most like to meet is: my grandparents, especially when they were young.
My dream job would be: Being a pediatric oncology nurse
Place I’d most like to live: Chicago or Colorado
If you come back in another life, what would you like to return as: a dog for sure. Probably a German shepherd or golden retriever.
Two things that are tops on my “bucket list”: traveling the world, and something crazy like skydiving or something.
My possession that would fetch the most on eBay: I have a nice gadget that holds my banana when it's in my backpack so it doesn’t get bruised. Bananas don’t travel well. This is valuable.
Who is the luckiest person in the world? My parents – they have such cool children.
What I miss most about being in the third grade: My mom making my lunch for me.
