North Carolina State University: When a university has the word ‘state’ in its name, it often means that it is a huge university. And that counts for NC State, with over 35,000 students! One of those 35,000 is Nyls Korstanje, the talented swimmer you’ve probably heard about before. He was featured in one of our Senior Spotlights and recently an article appeared online with great news: this year he is participating in the Olympic Games in Tokyo for the first time!
The Olympics is not the first major event for Nyls. At the age of fifteen, he joined the KNZB talent team and was allowed to participate in the European Youth Olympic Games (EYOF) on behalf of the Orange squad. At eighteen he participated in the World Cup in Canada and the European Championship in Copenhagen. There, he wins gold and sets a world record in the 4×100 mixed relay with Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk and Kyle Stolk. He eventually ends up at NC State.
From next August, another Slamstox student-athlete will join NC State, tennis player Fons van Sambeek! Fons grew up at tennis academy Amjoy in Veldhoven and was one of the best players in the Netherlands during his youth. A week ago he graduated for high school, which makes him ready for his long waited adventure as a student-athlete.
Fons visited several universities in the USA, but after his visit to NC State where he met his future teammates and coach, he knew for sure: this is the place to be. About this he said the following:
“From the moment I first walked on NC State, I felt a great connection with the coaches and the whole environment. The players on the team made me feel one of theirs during my visit. I am sure I’m going to have an amazing experience in Raleigh and become a better student-athlete than I am right now after four years of hard work and enjoyment! I can’t wait to join the Wolfpack next year!”
In the photo below you can see Fons with training buddies at Amjoy, Jim Hendrikx (college tennis player at Samford University) and Laura Rijkers (college tennis player at Arkansas).
Would you like to know more about the university of Fons and Nyls? Keep reading!
Campus
As you know by now, universities in America are often huge and so is NC State. With 35,000 students you hardly speak of a university, more of a village. And of course you can find everything in such a ‘village’: international restaurants, shops, wellness centers, museums and much more.
As in every spotlight, we zoom in on the athletic facilities. You can see some ‘Gameday facilities’ below.
The Carter-Finley Stadium is where the American Football team of the university plays matches, the stadium is now 50 years old and can accommodate up to 58,000 spectators! The stadium is known as one of the most beautiful in North Carolina and that will not surprise you while seeing the photo below.
Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center is the place where Nyls can be found every day, a beautiful sports pool with space for 1000 fans. The stands are therefore regularly full given the great success of the swimming team, the ACC Championship has been won several times. You can see more about this in the ‘sport’ section. Check out the sports pool below!
JW Isenhour Tennis Center is the place where Fons will be found in the coming years. The tennis teams use both an indoor and outdoor facility where they train. The facility has room for 1000 spectators who can look out over the courts from a height. This facility owes its name to former coach JW Isenhour who coached the teams between 1968 and 1981 and led the teams to many successes.
Besides the above three facilities more can be found on campus, such as a great basketball stadium, a large golf course, a baseball facility, a football field, a track & field stadium and much more. You will find it on this page.
Do you also want to become a student-athlete at an American university?
Athletics
The group of student-athletes at NC State is called ‘The Wolfpack’. It comes back everywhere, along with the university colors: red and white. The quote below is an important motto for all student athletes:
“For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.“
NC State
It is therefore not a coincidence that the fight song of NC State is called ‘The red and white song’. The lyrics can be found below:
“We’re the Red and White from State
And we know we are the best.
A hand behind our back,
We can take on all the rest.
Come over the hill, Caroline,
Devils and Deacs stand in line.
The Red and White from NC State.
— Go State!!”
NC State has a total of 24 varsity teams in various sports, the university is in Division I and part of the ACC Conference. In total, NC State has 8 national championships to its name, including two NCAA championships and two AIAW titles. NC State athletes have also won several individual titles, adding another last week. Elly Henes took the national title in the 5000 meters home, exactly 30 years after her mom Laurie Henes did. That’s so cool!
Nyls’ team won the ACC championships last year. You can see the cool video of this event below!
The video below shows sports footage of the Wolfpack in which each team is briefly highlighted. Check it out!
Academics
Studying, that is also spent on the Wolfpack. After all, it is also studying that makes a student-athlete, a student-athlete. According to the US News College Rankings, NC State is one of the 100 best universities in the United States!
The student-faculty ratio is on average 14:1 and about 35% of all lectures consist of less than 20 students! NC State offers a wide range of studies at undergraduate and graduate levels. The largest and most popular are engineering, business management, biotechnology and agriculture.
Check out NC State’s academic website here and click here to see if your preferred course of study (major) is offered. And do you have your diploma in the pocket? Then you are just like the students below!
NC State has a number of beautiful traditions, you can read more about that below.
Free Expression Tunnel
The Free Expression Tunnel runs through the center of the NC State campus. The idea of the tunnel is that students can express their thoughts and feelings through graffiti or other paintings: from ‘happy birthdays’ to announcing activities. During important sports matches, the walls are filled with encouraging texts for the teams. Because the tunnel is painted daily, it never looks the same. So do you have important announcements? The Free Expression Tunnel is the place to be!
Krispy Kreme Challenge
This challenge was devised in 2004 by a number of university students. Students are supposed to run to the nearest Krispy Kreme (donut cafe), where they buy 12 donuts and eat them all within an hour on the way back. Proceeds from this event go to North Carolina Children’s Hospital. As a student you are not obliged to participate in this, but it is fun! You can also register yourself as a supporter or volunteer. Check out the event in the video below
Howling Cow Ice Cream
Each year, the university’s dairy farm produces over 50,000 liters of milk. Whut?! Yes really. This dairy farm was originally intended for study research, but also produces a lot of milk. But where does that milk go? NC State just makes its own soft serve ice cream. The ice cream is available at various places on the university campus!
Hopefully you learned more about NC State in Raleigh through this article. Did you start thinking: “What Nyls is doing (and Fons is going to do), I want that too!”? Then contact us quickly and we will discuss your options together.
