Adam Hall heading for the Ivy League
After
stellar academic and athletic careers at Bonners
Ferry High School, where he graduated with
academic honors and as one of the most decorated
high school wrestlers in state history,
including three state championship titles, in
2006, and Boise State University, where he
ranked second all-time highest ranked wrestler
in school history was named the 2011 PAC-10
Scholar/Athlete of the Year, Adam Hall, the son
of Roland and Linda Hall, has been named
assistant head wrestling coach at historic
Columbia University in New York City.While the opportunity has meant a big change in plans, Adam said he couldn't turn down all the opportunities such a position entails.
"I was planning on staying at Boise State to finish pre-requisites for veterinary school," Hall said, "but this is a great opportunity that I just couldn't turn down. The best part of the deal is that I'll be able to continue my education at an Ivy League School."
Now, instead of focusing on a career in veterinary medicine, following in his father's footsteps, he's backing up just a little to see where this new opportunity can take him.
"Next semester, I'm just going to focus on my GREs (Graduated Record Examinations) to enter a Master's program at Columbia," he said. He's also looking to remain active as a competitor, with his sites set on competing for the World Team and qualifying for a berth at the Olympics.
Before he departs for the Big Apple, though, he's due to arrive in Bonners Ferry later tonight, where he'll be able to spend time with friends and family and get in a little hunting before he returns to Boise, and from there to New York, where he's scheduled to begin September 21.
Columbia University was founded as King's College in 1754 by a Royal Charter of King George II, while America was still a British Colony. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784, and renamed Columbia College in 1896.
Notable alumni include John Jay, one of the Nation's founding fathers and first Chief Justice of the United States, founding father Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barack Obama, and that young man from Omaha, Warren Buffett, a financial wizard and one of the world's richest men. The list of notables with Columbia degrees is a veritable who's who in the fields of science, finance, politics, law, literature and more.
"If I can do well there," Hall said, "the future is wide open."
He said that serving as a full time assistant coach will have its challenges, as recruiting talented athletes is made more difficult at Ivy League schools, where athletic scholarships are not offered, but he said he's excited by the prospect.
"They have a young, very energetic coaching staff," Hall said, a staff to which he'll add immeasurably.
And while he's off the the biggest city in the world, he said, he'll never lose his Bonners Ferry roots.
"I am what my parents and my town made me," he said, "and I've appreciated the contiuous support of the people of this community. It means a lot the way they are so appreciative when they see someone move up and find a measure of success."