Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
She used to go to school across from the Colton Booster Gun Club, now she goes to work next to Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Kelsey Schultheis, 23, of Colton, just started a new job in the Duke University Athletic Department as an assistant equipment manager.
Schultheis moved to Durham, N.C,. after a year at the University of Northern Colorado as co-head manager for equipment.
It was a decision that took some time, and no time, to make.
“Do I want to live on the east coast and be three time zones away from family? I just thought, I’ll try it, I didn’t really expect anything. It was a lot of excitement, I’m young and I gotta do this, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Her job is based in the equipment room of Card Gym, Duke’s original basketball arena, next to Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the storied men’s team now plays.
Schultheis and her colleagues serve a large section of Duke Athletics, including men’s and women’s basketball, rowing, swimming and diving, baseball, wrestling, tennis and volleyball.
“It’s a lot of laundry and a lot of behind-the-scenes work,” said Schultheis. “A lot of making sure everyone has what they need.”
She also tracks inventory, organizes equipment and gear and heat-presses I.D. numbers onto athletes’ practice wear.
Her first day on the job was June 11.
“I’m excited to be out here,” she said. “I love the area. I’ll really get a feel for it when the athletes come back. I walk into Cameron Indoor every morning to pick up the laundry, and I’m in awe, my jaw is on the floor.”
She has explained the landscape of Eastern Washington to several co-workers, who come from all over the country.
“We were joking the other day, lifting boxes off a truck, I said it was like haybales,” she said.
Her job consists of a regular 40 hours in the summer, while once the school year starts it will be different. She will set out uniforms for women’s basketball games and volleyball matches and may travel with teams.
She lives in Durham and found local roommates. Each day she drives through the Duke Forest, a heavily-wooded area at the edge of campus which opens to the gothic, stone and brick buildings of the university.
“It’s still got that old charm,” she said.
She thinks she could stay for awhile, although it’s too soon to tell.
“People don’t leave Duke, that seems to be the consensus around here,” said Schultheis. “Jobs like this only come open every five years or so.”
She first heard about the position and applied through an online resource called NCAA Marketplace.
An informal phone call followed, then a plane ticket to fly out for an interview.
She was offered the job a week later.
Her father, Art, flew to Colorado, and he and Kelsey drove a U-Haul east. Her mother is Sue and brother is Kyle. The family farms 1,400 acres near Colton.
Schultheis played volleyball and was a cheerleader in high school before going to Lewis-Clark State College where she was a manager for the volleyball team. She started as a Hospitality Management major and then changed to Sports Administration after taking a liking to her work with the volleyball team.
On the day she graduated, Schultheis was offered and accepted the job with Northern Colorado.
Now that she’s at Duke, she’s far away, but with technology she says she is still close to her family in Colton.
“It seems so far away, but mainly geographically,” said Schultheis.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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