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Thompson still on course for nursing career
   KGF Junior Scholar: Carmen Thompson

   Fort Hays State University student Carmen Thompson says she really didn’t plan on playing golf in college. But once the Kansas Golf Foundation scholar got to school, she talked with the coaching staff and she’s joined the Tigers women’s golf team.
   “I am very honored to say that I am a member of the Fort Hays State Women’s Golf Team,” Carmen Thompson

Thompson wrote in a letter to The Foundation recently. “There were five of us on the team, and I had a great experience. I am glad that I am able to keep playing golf competitively since I am on the team.”
   The opportunity has also given the 20-year-old nursing student from Coldwater a chance to travel within the region.
   “We traveled to many different places, including Pottsboro, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Pueblo, Colorado; Tahlequah, Oklahoma; St. Joseph, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri,” she continued. “The courses we played on were outstanding and I had a great time!”
   But she’s also had to make the adjustment to the less-structured environment of college golf.
   “It’s a lot harder to do more organized stuff because everybody has their own agenda for college; you do your own thing,” says Thompson, 27th at the recent University of Nebraska-Omaha Fall Classic. “In high school it was all set; you practiced from this time to this time. But in college you have to be more dedicated. It’s more of a thing you do on your own.”

A woman amongst boys
   And playing on a women-only golf team was probably a refreshing change as well. Thompson had to play on the boys’ team for South Central High in Coldwater. But that didn’t keep her from excelling.
   “I made it to state my sophomore, junior and senior year,” Thompson said. “My sophomore and junior year I made it on the team and my senior year I made it individually as a girl which they said was the first time anyone had ever done that.”
   Thompson, who can boast she finished in the top half at state against the males, also played volleyball, basketball and was a cheerleader at South Central. She was an all-district selection as

a utility player for the Timberwolves volleyball squad.
   Thompson says she began playing golf as early as age two or three. Her whole family was involved in the sport and they played at Coldwater Country Club. Her father Richard was the high school golf coach.
   “My parents played and their parents played so I was pretty much brought up in it,” she recalls. “I’ve just played ever since.”
   Thompson says patience and self-control are two of the biggest lessons she’s learned on the golf course.
   “You have to have a very strong mental game, not that it’s physical like football or basketball, but I feel the mental side of the game is stronger,” she says. “You have to be strong mentally for five hours. And when you play in tournaments you have to be very dedicated.”

Nursing in her future
   When she began to look at college choices, Thompson says she realized Fort Hays was the place for her when she found out she could do all the work for her nursing degree there.
   “I looked at Hays and (Emporia State) and I liked Hays better because I could do my whole degree here…I want to be a nurse practitioner,” she says.
   Thompson says that career choice is appealing to her as nurse practitioners provide much the same care for patients as physicians.
   “I’ve been a (Certified Nurse’s Assistant) for three years and my mom has worked at a nursing home her whole life,” Thompson says. “And I would go there even before I was a C.N.A. and I just really liked it. I want to be more than just a nurse. I thought nurse practitioner, because it’s kind of like a doctor. You do a lot of the same things. I want to be a nurse practitioner and specialize in the emergency room area.”
   Thompson says she remains appreciative of the KGF support as she enters her second year at Ft. Hays.
   “I was so excited, I figured you had to play college golf and when I got it I didn’t even think about playing college golf,” she says. “After I got (the scholarship) I thought that’s pretty cool, because I love golf and because with what I’m going into it helps a lot to have that scholarship.”