Unconventional students at Rice 2018: ‘So many cool opportunities here’

Wendy Knight came to Rice for the basketball program and the endless opportunities.

“Playing basketball was a huge feat for me,” she said. “Our team has grown a lot. We went from nine wins my freshman year to more than 20 wins now. It’s been very exciting to build relationships with my teammates and be able to see the growth of the program and the student support over the years.”

Knight credits basketball for helping her build strong discipline both on the court and in the classroom.

“I’ve learned you’re never going to be perfect at anything you do, but the more you keep working and the more determined you are to be successful” can really help, she said.

Knight is graduating with a degree in computational and applied mathematics.

“I’m proud to be an athlete and be in a great major and take advantage of amazing opportunities at Rice,” Knight said. “Through my senior design class, I’ve been able to do research in the medical center focused on a process to implant electrodes in the brain” during surgery for patients who have epileptic seizures.

Knight will attend graduate school to study operations research and industrial engineering.

“I’m proud to be an Owl,” she said. “There are so many cool opportunities here and people that are doing such great things.”