Colorado University Athletics
Collegiate Career Gave Buffs' Christensen More Well-Rounded Outlook On Life
June 10, 2019 | Skiing
BOULDER — The transition for college students graduation can be daunting. The transition for most competitive athletes moving past their competitive days in any sport can also lead to stress. So it's no wonder why collegiate student-athletes in the United States can struggle when both of those things often occur at the same time.
Not so for Nora Christensen. She is giving up competitive skiing, but certainly isn't giving up her sport. She's leaving the University of Colorado and the United States with a degree in Architectural Engineering, a degree she happened to obtain with north of a 3.7 grade point average, but she's likely not done with her education. All the while she's looking for life's next adventure.
"It feels pretty good to be done," Christensen said. "I still love skiing, I'm stoked to get to do more of the fun skiing, backcountry, free skiing and less slapping of the gates."
There's the immediate future, which includes an internship back home in Norway this summer. She was also accepted into a Masters program at ETH Zurich, where she could go to Switzerland, learn a third language (German) and study technology management in economics. There's the distant future, where she sees herself growing old in Norway close to family and friends. But there's also so much in between those things, and she calls her adventure coming to the United States and the University of Colorado four years ago "the best decision of my life."
"There were a bunch of us that were on the Norwegian Ski Team," Christensen said. "The funding wasn't perfect, and that made us look at other programs. We basically all decided to come to the US. I've grown so much in the past four years compared to people that are still home. I didn't pursue the dream I had of becoming the best skier in the world, but at the same time, coming here you see how much there is to do."
It's that growth as a person that enables Christensen to put things in perspective. Her former self may not have been able as easily deal with not winning an NCAA Championships at least once in the past four years at a school where the goal every year is to win it.
"We missed the team title and that's sad," Christensen said. "But it's life and you can't do anything about it. It would've been cool to leave here with one, because I know we had the team to accomplish that goal every season. But I don't think in 30 years that's what I'll remember. I'll remember the experiences and all the people I met along the way."
Christensen has always been a fan of school. She loves learning new things and based on her academic record, she's very good at it. But she credits the mix of school, a reenergizing of skiing thanks to the college format, and the built-in social life as the biggest reason she's grown as a person the last four years.
"School has always been helpful for me," she said. "But when I was home, I was more narrow-minded. I had been skiing my whole life and that was my priority. You're whole life depends on how you do when you ski. When you ski well, you feel good and everything works, but when you don't ski well, it feels like your whole life is falling apart.
"But coming here, being on a team, helping your team in a different way," she continued. "Back home, you're on a team and working together to reach a goal, but here you actually need everybody else to perform well to do well yourself. Being able to do the skiing part, having the social life and also skiing is a great mix. When I focus on school, I'm not thinking about skiing. When I'm skiing, I can't think about anything else. And you also have the time to be social and be with your friends. I think I was a better student because of skiing and in some ways a better skier because of school. The mix is what's unique. I've always been interested in school and learning new things, developing as a person in other areas than just skiing. This experience for me has been very valuable."
So, what does she want to do with all that value? See if her internship leads to full time employment? Go to graduate school?
"If you would've asked me a year ago, I would've told you I'm going back to Norway now," she said. "But at this point, ending my career here, being here another three weeks (after graduation) and reflecting on how much I've grown as a person, I realized how cool it is to be in other countries and learn a new culture and how much you can grow from that. At the moment, I don't want to go back to Norway right away. I want to keep exploring and get out of my comfort zone, I think you grow a lot as a person doing that, and seeing more parts of the world. But, my family and friends are in Norway, and I think that's where I want to grow old."
And when she does settle down in Norway or elsewhere, what will her job look like?
"That may be the hardest question you could ask me right now," she said. "Honestly, I have no idea what I want to do yet. Doing my engineering major now, I've realized I don't want to just do engineering. I like the environment with working with people, developing strategies. I've always had a dream about being a leader in a company. I think I just need to try out a bunch of different things in the coming years and find something that interests me. Because right now I don't have an exact path I want to go down."
Regardless of what path Christensen does eventually take, chances are it will be a prosperous one. It's hard to imagine her not succeeding in anything she put her mind to. And while it wasn't all great all the time — she struggled a bit her freshman year on the slopes and admits her second year academically was very demanding — it's the process of living that life that enables such personal growth.
"I would encourage everybody to come experience this, and you don't realize it until you're actually here," she said. "Honestly it makes skiing fun again. Skiing has always been fun for me and a big part of my life, but coming back here, I found a little glow again of being out, having fun, skiing, being with friends, doing cool things, traveling around. Those things that made me love skiing in the beginning blossomed again, so that's what made everything worth it."
She sums it up best, by saying, "You just learn about yourself and how to work under pressure. I think that's valuable anywhere you go and with anything you do. Having that part with you is super valuable landing a job."
And in the end, isn't that the point of furthering your education?
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