The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
Taylor Atkinson, a senior women’s basketball point guard, spends an hour in the training room before every practice and game biking, stretching and heating her back so she hits the court lose and ready.
Atkinson wants to be fully prepared every time she is on the court. This preparation speaks to her dedication to basketball and her teammates. 
“She an aggressive player that knows the game better than anyone,” said junior forward Autumn Hennes. “She knows everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and sets us up for success.”
Atkinson has played basketball since she was young. When she was in third grade, she played on a fifth-grade team.
“I used to hang out at my older sister’s practices. Eventually I had my own team and started to practice with them,” Atkinson said.
Because she transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point her sophomore year from Concordia St. Paul, this will be Atkinson’s third and final year playing for the Pointers.
“We’ll miss her knowledge for the game, but also comic relief that’s always there when we need it,” Hennes said. “She very quick-witted.”
Atkinson, a biology major, graduates in May and will start graduate school June 1 at Carroll University, where she has been accepted into physician’s assistant program. Atkinson achieved a 3.98 GPA and is also heavily involved in lab research.
In high school Atkinson received an A- in a microbiology course and is still upset about it. She attributes her high grades to her study habits.
Atkinson is also the treasurer of the Scholar Society of UWSP and does lab work in the biology department. For over two years, Atkinson worked under Sandhu Devinder, a professor of biology.
“She’s one of the top students in class and even if she knows the subject she goes through all the steps,” Devinder said. “She makes sure she knows the concept and how it can be applied.”
Atkinson’s intellectual potential can be noted in her published works Genome and Agronomy. She focuses on soy bean genetics, fertility and mutations.
“If you see a student producing like this you cannot imagine the hard work and dedication they have,” Devinder said. “The work you do in the lab is based on what you want to do so you need to have drive. Taylor knows what she wants to do.”
Atkinson is working on a third project that she plans to submit to yet another journal before she graduates.
Hennes said Atkinson, basketball and biology aside, is likable.
“She can get along with pretty much anyone,” Hennes said. “She’s understanding of anyone and anything, and when someone talks, she’ll listen. She will always help you out, and anytime you’re with her, she’s going to make you smile.”
Rebecca Vosters
Reporter
rvost360@uwsp.edu
