Illinois Wesleyan 2012 graduate Amanda Kessel was a member of both the women's soccer and women's track and field teams at IWU. She was chosen as the women's soccer team's "Most Improved Player" in 2011 and was an all-conference in the javelin throw at the 2011 CCIW outdoor meet.
She was the IWU female winner of the Merle Chapman Leadership Award in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin, identifying the student-athletes from each institution that best exemplify the traits of loyalty, enthusiasm, and commitment to academic, athletic and personal excellence, leadership and sportsmanship.
A biology major, she is the daughter of Tom and Dawn Thompson of Medina, Ohio.
Why you chose Illinois Wesleyan: A combination of the athletics and academics, plus eenie meenie miney moe.
IWU class you’re most qualified to teach: Rights and Wrongs. I've learned a lot of these through trial and error.
The hardest challenge about being a Division III student-athlete is: Getting recognized everywhere.
Worst grade in a class you ever got – what and when? B in "The 60s: Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll." It was May Term, I thought I was invincible.
I’m deathly afraid of ... : getting fat, I blame this fear on Bret Swango
Worst habit: Using sarcasm at the wrong times...well all the time.
Most expensive traffic ticket: Would have been $300 for speeding but fortunately it was prior to my 18th birthday so I had the joy of wearing UVI glasses and driving a golf cart for four hours instead in traffic school.
Language I’d like to learn: Body Language, I'm embarrassed because even Jesse McCartney knows that already.
The longest I could survive without my cell phone: Seven days, isn't that when the chick from "The Ring" died?
Your usual response to “What’s going on?”: "Oh you know...stuff" or "you don't wanna know"
Favorite sports figure(s): 36, 24, 36 (but only if she's 5'3'')
My greatest moment in sports was: Winning the IM Basketball Championship.
The best player I ever faced was: Alli Novak, the women was a force to be reckoned with in the goal.
Worst dresser on my team: In track that would have to be Coach Weir, mainly because his crayon drawing tattoos don't match anything. For soccer, our assistant coach Mutters; she went to Illinois State, 'nuff said.
Thing that’s been in my fridge the longest: There are a few Icees frozen into the tundra that has engulfed my freezer.
Person I’m dying to have dinner with: Tosh.O (shown at left)
Favorite food: Revenge, served cold.
Vegetable I won’t eat: Brussels sprouts, like ewe.
Pepsi or Coke?: Coke, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Like Jane Lynch.
Favorite TV show: "Planet Earth"
Favorite musical group: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with a little Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Denver.
Favorite movie: Home movies, life was simpler then.
The person in history I would most like to meet is: Marilyn Monroe, I think we'd hit it off.
My dream job would be: Working for St. Jude's in Australia while managing an exotic pet ranch and breeding Bernese Mountain Dogs.
Place I’d most like to live: Narnia
My possession that would fetch the most on eBay: The blue diamond that Rose threw off the boat after Titanic; just took some simple triangulation and study of currents to pinpoint the location.
What I miss most about being in the third grade: That it was socially acceptable to wear my tattoo necklaces and chapstick ring.
