It took a little while, but recent Pioneer Valley High School grad and wrestler extraordinaire Jessica Bautista has found a home for herself next school year.
Bautista will attend and wrestle at Emmanuel College, a small Division II school in Franklin Springs, Ga.
“It wasn’t until the last week of school [when I decided on Emmanuel],” Bautista told the Sun following a signing ceremony at Pioneer Valley. “It’s pretty exciting.”
Bautista was offered an athletic scholarship to attend. A first generation college student, Bautista never visited the school or met the wrestling coach—but that doesn’t faze her one bit.
“I’m just going to show up,” she laughed. “[The coach] and I just texted, but that’s it.”
Bautista is one of the top wrestlers in California. She was named to the All-CIF team twice during her Pioneer Valley career and finished in the Top 12 at the California Championships. She wrestled on the varsity team all four years in high school.
“My favorite year of wrestling was probably this year,” Bautista told the Sun. “I just felt well prepared this year. I knew more things [about wrestling].”
During the team’s run to a PAC 8 title and her own trip to the state championships in the winter, Bautista reflected on the various ways that wrestling has influenced her life.
“Wrestling has taught me a lot,” she said. “It’s taught me hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.”
She thanked the coaching staff at Pioneer Valley for their support along the way.
“They are really helpful and encourage us—we’ve been taught well,” she said. “Coach [Kevin] Ilac’s taught me a lot wrestling-wise, and he kept me on track with my grades. He cares about that as well.”
Bautista plans on majoring in biology at Emmanuel, which she hopes will lead to a career as a nurse practitioner.
“In high school, I really liked [biology],” Bautista said. “I had a great teacher. I want to be a nurse practitioner, so hopefully it will help out with that.”
This article appears in Jun 23-30, 2016.
