Jenny Carmichael, OU Athletics' First Lady

Ask a child what he or she might want to be when older and the answer might be a king or a queen. For a redshirt junior, Jenny Carmichael, that dream could come true Saturday when the 2015 University of Oklahoma Homecoming queen is recognized.

Regardless of what happens Saturday, this Tulsa native is making history as a member of the Homecoming Court. You see, she's also a discus thrower on the Sooner track and field team and appears to be the first female OU student-athlete to be a member of the Homecoming Court.

"This has just been an amazing week," said Carmichael, who has had several amazing weeks in her Sooner career. "I never thought I would make it to this point. I wish I could wear a Go Pro camera just so people could share what this week has been like. Things have just built up as the people around me have kept me balanced. I never want to compromise quality for quantity."

Carmichael (far left) appears to be the first female student-athlete to be on the University of Oklahoma Homecoming Court. Here she poses with other members of the 2015 Royal Court.

Carmichael, who serves as president of OU'S Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, was nominated for the homecoming honor by SAAC. Any registered student group on the Norman campus is encouraged to nominate one male and one female student for the awards.

"If I had started out with the goal of winning awards, I would never have achieved what I have so far. These awards are all about the people who have helped me along the road."
- Jenny Carmichael

"Carol (Ludvigson) and Maddie (Stein), the athletics staff members who work with SAAC, encouraged us to select nominees and SAAC chose me," Carmichael explained. "After Compliance approved it, I filled out a nomination form. The committee selected 16 men and 16 women from all the nominees. We went through an interview process and the six finalists for king and queen were chosen. The king and queen will be selected by a two-day student vote which ended last night. We find out on Saturday who the winners are."

The questions in the interview process came fast and furious, according to Carmichael, as each candidate was asked five questions that had to be answered in four to five minutes. The questions ranged from funny to serious.

"I was asked what my Secret Service code name would be and I said 'undercover catalyst.' When asked what I wanted my OU legacy to be, I answered 'people.' I hope to be one of those people who helped others be more than they could have ever been on their own.

"Answering their question about my greatest moment at OU was simple," Carmichael continued. "It was my first time to compete in the Big 12 Championship wearing crimson and cream. My dream was realized when I found myself competing for the Sooners against people I had looked up to since coming to OU at the Big 12 meet at Baylor."

Carmichael competes in the discus for the Oklahoma women's track and field team.

If you sense a theme in her answers, then you know the secret behind Carmichael's amazing success. For her, it's all about others.

"If I had started out with the goal of winning awards, I would never have achieved what I have so far. These awards are all about the people who have helped me along the road - coaches and teachers - who believed I was capable of so much more than I thought I was. It's about my teammates," she continued. "I want to be that kind of person for others. I want to help them be so much more than they thought possible. I also want them to understand how working together leads you to so much more success than you could have experienced on your own."

"Jenny…is the perfect teammate for our program. She has made a huge contribution to the culture we are building here at OU."
- Coach Jim VanHootegem

Her head coach, Jim VanHootegem, has high praise for Carmichael. "When you put on that uniform, you become part of a team and you have to find where you fit in on that team to ensure you bring the best of who you are," he said. "Jenny has done that 8,000 times over. She is so talented at helping her teammates understand that, to be part of a team, you may have to sacrifice something.

"The most valuable teammate may not be the person who can throw farthest, run fastest, jump highest or farthest. Jenny is so comfortable in who she is that she is the perfect teammate for our program. She has made a huge contribution to the culture we are building here at OU."

Carmichael received the 2014 Sooner Oath Award, given annually by SAAC to the male and female student-athlete who best represent the tenets of the oath. Last spring, she was named to the 2015-16 class of Pe-Et, a senior honor society, and selected as a Big Woman on Campus.

Carmichael received the 2014 Sooner Oath Award that was presented by OU vice president for intercollegiate athletics and director of athletics Joe Castiglione.

Through her major, she received Fred Meyer Guild Memorial Outstanding Female Student Award from the College of Engineering last spring. She has a 3.90 GPA in her degree, chemical engineering accelerated bachelor of science. That translates into just four Bs in six semesters of classwork. She has earned a spot on the President's Honor Roll (4.00 GPA) twice and has been on the Dean's Honor Roll (3.50-3.99 GPA) four times. She will receive her undergraduate degree this May, then return for a final year of competition and to complete coursework for a master's degree which she will receive in May 2017.

Back to the Homecoming activities, Carmichael's parents were quite surprised when they got the news.

"My Mom was stunned, a happy kind of stunned," she said. "My Dad is an OU alum so he is excited. My older brothers are really excited."

In the typical "not about me," style that makes Carmichael so unique among people her age, she has a theory about her family's reaction.

Sharing the spotlight, Carmichael wants to 
encourage young girls, like Audrey Hales,
 to celebrate who they are.

"The last time I ran for anything that you had to be elected for was in fifth grade. I ran for treasurer of the student council and lost. I decided I had lost because I misspelled the name of the office. It's also a first time experience for me as my high school, Tulsa's Holland Hall, didn't have a traditional homecoming. The thought was that they didn't want to split the student body.

"Regardless of what happens, I am already a winner through this experience," she added. "I am part of making history because I am the first OU student-athlete to be a part of the homecoming festivities in this way. In my mind, I was already making history just being a student-athlete at OU. I am representing all OU student-athletes as we continue to be more a part of the student body. My teammates are so excited and it has been fun to share this with them."

Carmichael has plans beyond Saturday as she continues to re-define intercollegiate athletics and what it means to be a homecoming queen, particularly as a student-athlete from a "strength" sport.

"I want to send the message to younger people, but especially little girls, to celebrate who you are. Be encouraged to be who you are. I want to be a part of redefining what normal is in society. I would love to send a letter to all the grade school girls in the Norman Public Schools and help them learn how to celebrate who they are."

In the meantime, she is busy with Homecoming activities, weight training and practice sessions for track and field, classwork, labs and at least one test. After all, she is a student-athlete.