Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
WILL STRICKLAND LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN
Will Strickland will major in biology at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, which comes as no surprise to any of his family.
Strickland’s parents are both pharmacists. One of his cousins is a physical therapist. Another cousin is an anesthesiologist.
“I think I just fell into it,” said Strickland, who plans to eventually get into sports medicine. “It seems like I’m surrounded by family who work in the medical field.”
Strickland not only achieved great
academic success at Little Rock Christian Academy, he also found time to make a significant contribution on the Warriors basketball team. As a 6-1 guard, Strickland was the team captain and earned all-conference honors in the competitive 5A-Central.
“Our conference was the toughest conference in the state,” Strickland said. “Every week we had to play an athletic team. It was hard to find a way to get an upper hand against teams like that.”
Strickland’s study habits and willingness to find time to work on his shooting skills meant for many “low-sleep” nights. Strickland said he found time to study every night and to spend as many nights as he could shooting, taking at least 300 shots at every opportunity.
“Sometimes I wouldn’t be able to start shooting until 11 at night,” Strickland said. “A lot of times I didn’t get to bed until 1 a.m. or later. And then I had to get up early to go to my real practices. It was tough to balance everything.”
Getting into the University of Arkansas was Strickland’s top priority.
“Arkansas was always the school I grew up watching and rooting for,” Strickland said. “I was dead set on Arkansas as my college.”
Volunteering was also a priority to Strickland, who said his experience at the Arkansas Rice Depot was rewarding.
“I only volunteered there my freshman and sophomore years but it felt like I made a difference there,” Strickland said. “I did a lot of packaging food to help some of the unfortunate people and I sorted out boxes.
“I thought my time there was worth something.”