CHAMPAIGN — Karen Howell spent the better part of a week moving out of her Champaign apartment and back home.
Sort of. The Michigan native’s parents bought a new house, so Howell had to settle in to a new room.
It was the last step in wrapping up her time at Illinois. Howell’s senior season of gymnastics came to an abrupt end in mid-March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
No postseason gymnastics. No commencement or graduation ceremony.
“I’ve definitely been working on finding ways to make myself feel OK,” Howell said. “Graduation’s gone. The end of my gymnastics career is gone. Everything ended at once, and I feel like I kind of lost a little bit of what a normal college student does. They obviously don’t do sports, but every college student has a chance to go to the ceremony and go to commencement and get their diploma. I feel like I missed out on that.”
Howell jokingly said she’s had plenty of free time for homework in the past several weeks. It’s honestly come in handy, though, as the kinesiology major studies for the GRE after choosing that path rather than the MCAT and medical school. That’s a shift from the start of Howell’s senior year when she still felt like she would stay on the path to becoming an osteopathic physician.
“When I was in high school it was always, ‘I’m going to be a doctor,’” Howell said. “I think when I got to college I really was made aware of all the different opportunities available in the medical field that I was totally unaware of in high school. Every time I learned about a new career path I would look more into that. I shadowed a couple people.”
Howell eventually landed on her next step, with the GRE necessary to get into physician assistant school. The idea of the time commitment for medical school also played a role in her decision.
“Honestly, I really didn’t want to go to school for six more years,” she said with a laugh. “I thought this would be a great way to not necessarily put my life completely on hold to go to school longer and still be in the career field where I’m dealing with medicine and doing things that would make me happy. It’s something I’m passionate about and interested in.”
Howell had that same type of passion in her gymnastics career. She made her Illinois debut in the first meet of her freshman season in 2017 and competed in the all-around that day at Missouri. She finished with 19 career individual event titles and competed in the all-around throughout the majority of her four years with the Illini.
Competing in the all-around so early was something Howell said she expected before she wound up at Illinois. That expectation was grounded in what Howell thought she knew about college gymnastics. The idea was she already competed the all-around in club. Why would college be any different?
Then Howell got on the Illinois campus and started working with the Illini and realized just how challenging that was going to be to accomplish. But she did it.
“I knew I wanted to make my freshmen year beam and bar lineups,” Howell said. “I think my freshman year, when lineups came out and I was in all-around, I was really proud of myself and a little bit surprised because I knew there was a lot of talent on the team.”
Howell’s sophomore season was a turning point in her time at Illinois. The Illini went through a coaching change with Nadalie Walsh taking the reins of the program, and that moment helped Howell step into a primary leadership role she held throughout the rest of her career. It was a conscious effort on her part.
“When Nadalie got there she pretty much was like, ‘You guys are all equal. You’re all pretty much a freshman again because I’m a freshman, and I don’t know how I’m going to run this yet,’” Howell said. “It really gave an opportunity for anybody to be able to speak, and I felt like I had ideas I didn’t get to share my freshman year. I kind of brought those forward my sophomore year, and I had a little bit more confidence after going through a season of college gymnastics. You understand a little bit more, and I felt like I could help lead the incoming freshmen.”
Howell built on her role as a leader her final three seasons at Illinois. She embraced it by taking several leadership classes offered by the athletic department. She also joined the Illini’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to have more of a voice not just confined to Kenney Gym and Huff Hall.
Howell’s leadership wound up a part of the lasting legacy she’s left at Illinois.
“She does not take her responsibilities lightly,” Walsh said. “She’s very passionate. She wants everybody to be as passionate as she is. She’s very hard working. If everybody in the room decides they’re not going to work hard, that doesn’t make Karen lessen her expectations.
“Karen is just one of those student-athletes — and the student-athlete on our team — that I would say made the greatest impact on the younger generations that followed her. They could look and see how much she walks the walk, and now I have a whole group of young women who are going to be able to follow what she left behind.”
Getting to know Karen Howell
More on Illinois senior women’s gymnast Karen Howell beyond the gymnastics world:
Favorite athlete: Shawn Johnson
Favorite sports besides gymnastics: Baseball and hockey
Three people I’d like to have dinner with: Harry Styles, Ellen DeGeneres, a distant ancestor
Favorite TV show: Friends
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Howell leaves lasting legacy with Illini | Gymnastics - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette
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