Seniors Kennedy Waite and Julia Gubner have committed to Brown University, an Ivy League school, after four years of academic and athletic achievement. When deciding where they would attend in the fall of 2019, Brown’s high ranking academics and Division 1 athletic status greatly appealed to both Waite for track and Gubner for softball.

Julia Gubner plays first and third base for the CHS Varsity Softball team and verbally committed to play softball for Brown on Oct. 13 of 2018. She first began her softball career at the age of ten and even shares the field today with a few of her original teammates. In fact, part of Gubner’s love for softball stems from the meaningful friendships she has formed on the field.

“In order to be a great [softball] player, your team needs to work as a unit,” said Gubner. “In other words, if your team doesn’t play well, you don’t play well.”
Before officially joining Brown, Gubner had offers from many different competitive schools including Ivy League, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). However, when she met the coaches at Brown, she knew it was the right school for her.

“Honestly I thought I was going to end up at UPenn, but Brown offered me first and I connected with the coach a lot better,” said Gubner.

Gubner’s lifelong plan has been to pursue softball at a collegiate level, and thanks to her high school coach Barbara Hofer and travel coach Bob Creamer, she will be able to do just that. Gubner attributes her coaches for growing her as a player and boosting her confidence in her abilities, and she is very excited and thankful for the opportunity to continue playing softball while earning her degree.

Gubner plans to study Political Science and Philosophy at Brown and feels that academics are the most important part of her busy schedule, as she currently maintains a 4.5 weighted GPA. She also wants to assure aspiring high school athletes that there is a college and a division for everyone.

“There are so many schools out there with so many divisions and you end up where you are supposed to end up,” said Gubner. “So, don’t stress about it because whatever is meant to happen will happen. Control the controllable.”