Nov. 30, 2018 – Hartford, WI – Hartford Union High School (HUHS) is proud to announce senior, Kayla Okla, has signed with UW Madison Rowing Team.
Kayla plans to major in Wildlife Ecology and row for the Women’s Open weight Rowing team. “Rowing actually isn’t a sport I have much experience with at all. I have been playing competitive soccer and basketball my entire life, yet never really planned on playing either of those sports in college. A family friend of mine mentioned trying rowing to me last winter so I thought I’d see how I liked it,” said Kayla.
In the spring of 2018 she attended a Learn to Row day camp at UW Madison and instantly fell in love with the sport. She kept in contact with the coaches and attended a week long rowing camp at UW Madison in summer.
At Kayla’s Official Visit in September, she verbally committed to row for Wisconsin and then signed the National Letter of Intent on November 14th. “I have known for a while that I wanted to go to Madison, but I never thought I would be a Badger athlete yet alone a rower. I am excited for the challenge and cannot wait to see what my future as a student athlete at UW Madison has in store for me,” said Kayla.
Kayla is also involved in H-Club (Varsity Athletes Club) and National Honor Society and participates in many volunteer activities throughout the community. She enjoys the outdoors and likes to spend time hiking and kayaking. “My love for nature has led me to major in Wildlife Ecology in the College of Agriculture and Letters of Science at UW Madison. In the future I hope to get a job as an ecologist for the National Park Service.” said Kayla.