Annikah San Nicolas ’19 returns as athletic academic coordinator

Lewis & Clark alum Annikah San Nicolas ’19 is the athletic academic coordinator and the assistant volleyball coach at LC. After playing with the volleyball team for four years, San Nicolas is now back working in the athletic department. 

“I feel like I just learned and I grew so much throughout my experience here, and I feel like LC is definitely a place where everyone in this community is always striving to improve and striving to just develop as an individual and helping those around them develop,” She said. “That was just always super inspiring to me.”

The former student athlete views her return to LC as a chance to repay the community that supported her as a student. 

“I just wanted to come back and give back to this community and I just feel like the student athlete community in particular is special,” She said. 

San Nicolas is helping to improve  LC’s athletic department in a variety of ways, from aiding student athletes that are struggling to juggle their schedule to talking to them about graduate school. She also works with students on developing their time management and  study skills, as well as connecting them with resources on campus.

San Nicolas explained that the athletic department at LC centers around four C’s: classroom, character, community and competition. She wants to focus her efforts on the classroom part of these values. 

“I really just want to provide holistic support to our student athletes, helping them succeed both in the classroom and in self-growth and development,” She  said. 

According to San Nicolas, many life skills can come out of the student athlete experience, and she wants to help the student athletes at LC acquire and hone these skills. For example, Kelsie Nakashima ’24, said that she is learning how to manage her time through her meeting with San Nicolas. 

“It’s pretty casual. But it helps me stay on top of my assignments, we go through each class and what I have to do for each class, or assignments that are coming up or testing.” Nakashima said.

While some of San Nicolas’ responsibilities come from working with students, she is also working within the athletic department.   

“I am working on taking over one of the (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) advisor positions,” She said. “That definitely focuses on the community and the character, so athlete development.”

San Nicolas trusts that the athletic community has benefited from being completely in-person this semester. 

“It’s just really nice for everyone to be back in person after COVID, and I feel like it’s a great opportunity for the whole LC community to come together even more than what it was before,” She said. “I feel like the athletic community is really striving to bridge the gap between athletes and non-athletes.”  

San Nicolas emphasized the importance of the opportunity that COVID-19 has given the LC community for all of us to come together, improve and grow. 

Photograph by David Allen