“Life is a gift, never underestimate its value,” said not a well-known philosopher, but second-year student Kendall McConico.

Case Western Reserve University basketball player McConico demonstrates the powerful life she lives every day through her quote. It’s written on her game shoes and even tattooed on her wrist to remind her to be thankful for her wonderful life.

During her second season on the women’s basketball team, McConico is truly starting to show her capabilities. So far this season, she is averaging 10 points per game while making 43.4 percent of her shots. She is showing that she can thrive in an increased role. During her first season for CWRU, she typically came off the bench.

Since basketball is a team sport, McConico credits her team for her development. In fact, her teammates are her favorite aspect of playing basketball. They don’t just practice on the court; they’ve traveled across the country together and made countless memories. While many refer to their team like a family, McConico goes as far as saying they are actually a family.

McConico firmly believes that she was born to be an athlete.

“Since I was little I knew I didn’t want to do any of the girly stuff like being a ballerina and being a cheerleader,” she said. “…When someone told me in elementary school ‘You play like a boy,’ I knew that [basketball] was the sport for me.

McConico loves the fact that she can practice anytime and anywhere as long as there is a ball. It’s simply one of the things she loves most in life.

Certain games have significantly contributed to McConico’s love of basketball. One of them was a playoff game that sent her high school team to Michigan’s semifinals.

McConico’s team, from University Liggett School, were heavy underdogs going into the game, and the opposing team had a fan section eight times larger than her own school’s section. It was a hard-fought game, and McConico ended up downing two critical free throws that miraculously sent her team to East Lansing for the semifinals. McConico cites this moment as one of the most special of her career.

Off the court, McConico has taken on two leadership positions in the newly formed Black Student Union and African American Society. In the Black Student Union she is the Vice Chair of Programming, meaning that she is the primary source of contact for any events the union holds, including organization and planning. In the African American Society, she gets to express her creative side. As the historian, she is responsible for taking pictures at events.

Photography is actually one of McConico’s favorite activities, explaining her historian position.

“I love the idea of one moment in time can be captured forever, and the amount of creativity and complexity that goes into the art,” she said.

McConico is currently majoring in biology, with hopes of going to medical school. She explained how she loves to investigate how everything somehow works in perfect harmony. Biology is allowing her to intensely explore her fascination.

With her future medical degree, McConico hopes to fulfill her dream of becoming a surgeon. It allows her to follow her passions of investigating how living bodies function and helping people.

She cited one of her favorite quotes: “The worst doctors are the ones that are in the career just for the money. It’s the doctors that can’t see themselves being anything else that are the best ones in the field.”