Southwestern Salutatorian ready to study Kinesiology and enjoy college life at Purdue

Riley Engel celebrated her high school graduation from Southwestern with just over 40 classmates.

Engel’s future Purdue University roommate graduated from a Chicago suburb school with approximately 7,000 students.

“I don’t think she knows just how small (Southwestern) is,” laughed Engel. “Her school is a little bit outside of Chicago. It’s huge. She says they have to scan in with QR codes. The teachers don’t even take attendance. I am like you don’t even know everybody in your grade.”

Engel boasts she knows nearly everyone inside the Southwestern Junior/Senior High School building. And she is pretty familiar with many of the elementary students in the nearby building.

“I really liked how I got to know everybody,” said Engel. “At a really big school you don’t even know everybody in your grade. At Southwestern, I know all the seniors, all the juniors, all the sophomores and all the freshmen. I even knew all the kids in junior high. I even knew most of the elementary kids. I loved how I knew everybody.”

All that changes in August when Engel, the Southwestern High School Class of 2024 Salutatorian, heads north to Purdue to study Kinesiology with the goal of becoming a physical therapist.

Engel can pinpoint when her future career came into focus.

“My sophomore year after the volleyball season I tore my meniscus (in my knee),” she recalled. “I had to have knee surgery and it was a 7- to 9-month recovery. While I was doing physical therapy I fell in love with it. It was a big group where I went so I got to see different people rehabbing each time I went. It was just so cool to see all the different types of people rehabbing and getting back to recovery. And all the things I got to do were so cool.”

The ultimate goal is to be a physical therapist that specializes in working with stroke victims or working with veterans to assist with rehabilitation after they return home from service.

Engel is excited for all the experiences that lie ahead for her, including having a roommate who grew up in a completely different environment. She wants to experience everything Purdue has to offer.

“I have always wondered what it would be like going to a big school,” she said. “I have never been to a football game. I am most excited about tailgating and football games at Purdue. I am just looking for a change from a small school to a big school. I am really excited for it.”

Engel was a four-year member of Southwestern’s volleyball and track and field programs. She played basketball for two seasons.

Engel also was a peer mentor and cadet teacher and was involved in Student Council, Sunshine Society and Student Athletic Advisory Committee.

“Southwestern always felt like a safe place. You always had people you can lean on because you knew everybody,” she said. “I am going to miss the small class sizes. My AP Calculus class only had six people so it was easy to get one-on-one teaching with the teacher. Now I have to take my math placement test for Purdue and they’ve already told me it will be a class with like 300 kids. I have never had that big of a class.”

As salutatorian, Engel was asked to give a speech at the graduation ceremony. She found the task of whittling down so many positive experiences into one tightly-packaged speech quite difficult.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to talk about because it was such a long spread of time with a group of people and I didn’t know how to sum it up,” she said. “I really wanted to talk about all the memories we have shared together. I moved here in third grade and to senior year is a long time with the same people. We didn’t have too many people move in and we didn’t have too many people leave. So it was the same group of people for almost eight years. I really wanted to focus on all the memories we had together and our futures.”

Engel currently works at the Edinburgh Outlet Mall and is trying to balance having so much free time during a summer that used to be filled with multiple athletic activities.

“It is so different. I am so bored,” she said with a laugh. “Last summer, I had two practices (a day). I would have basketball in the morning and volleyball in the afternoon. I really enjoyed that. I have always enjoyed having a set schedule and getting to play sports. I am so bored now. I don’t know what to do.

“I have already talked about joining intramurals when I get to Purdue. Sports has been my whole life and now I don’t know what to do with myself.”

While Engel has a roommate, the pair do not yet have a dorm room assignment. That will come next month. One month later, she will move on campus and begin a new adventure.

“I am really excited for the tailgates, football games, basketball games and volleyball games,” she said. “I went to one Purdue volleyball game and it was so cool.

“I am so excited. I am excited for my classes and for intramural sports. I am just excited about the whole community on campus.”