When you see the trophy cabinet of golfer Jerry Ji you will undoubtedly be amazed, because it is very impressive! Two of them are Olympic bronze and Dutch champion. Jerry Ji has been a student-athlete at the University of Illinois since the summer of 2019. Since then, the trophies became more. Jerry is part of a high-ranked golf team that won great prizes. In June, they participated in the NCAA Championship in Arizona. The final tournament in the highest division of college golf. And also the final tournament that Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods won before making the move to professional golf.
But he also won prizes as an individual player: he was previously named ‘BIG10 Freshman of the Year’ and ‘Scholar athlete of the week’. A great achievement!
Jerry did an interview with Golf.nl last month, he told them the following, among other things:
“If I had stayed in the Netherlands, I don’t think I could have developed as well as a golfer. Here I play against the best amateur golfers in the world, the competition is fierce. Studying and also spending a lot of time on golf is tough, you should not underestimate that. But it is doable and above all very fun and educational. I also think the transition to the pros will be easier if you are already used to being away from home.”
Curious about the article? Read that here.
Do you want to know more about Jerry’s university? Keep scrolling!
Campus
UIUC is a huge university with almost 53,000 students. That makes the campus not really feel like a campus, but more like a village. It is located between the two cities, Urbana and Champaign. That makes the name of the university. The campus is often referred to as UIUC due to its long name, but ‘Illinois’, ‘I’ or ‘UIllinois’ can also be found. Still get it? Well, let’s just call it UIUC. The campus looks great and is located in a beautiful area, check out the video below!
But not only the surroundings and the campus look great, the athletic facilities at UIUC are also worth a try! Are you watching?
The facilities at UIUC are huge and there are a lot of them. ‘Memorial Stadium’ is the most enormous and we would like to highlight it. It is the stadium where the American Football teams play. The stadium was built in 1923 but has undergone many renovations since then. There is room for a lot of fans, the record number of fans was achieved during a game in 1984. The audience then consisted of 78,297 spectators. Can you imagine competing in front of so many people?!
The ‘State Farm Center’ is also a great facility at the university. It opened in 1963 and has held 263 sold-out games since then. Sold out means that 16,600 people have paid for a seat, that’s crazy right?! Every fan wears orange clothing and ensures that the teams are optimally encouraged. Check it out below, we all definitely want to experience this once… Super cool!
‘Illini Golf’, one of the best teams in America. Jerry is part of that and of course that includes an awesome facility. UIUC has arranged that for its college golfers. The ‘Demirjian Indoor and Lauritsen/Wohlers Outdoor Golf Practice Facilities’, a mouth full, can be seen in the video below. A huge golf course that looks super professional…
Besides the above facilities, there is a lot more to be found on UIUC, too much to mention in this article. Would you like to see more? Then check out all athletic facilities on this page.
Do you also want to become a student-athlete at a university in America?
Athletics
At a large university with many students, there are many student-athletes and many varsity teams. The University of Illinois has men’s teams in: baseball, basketball, American football, golf, gymnastics, tennis, track & field and wrestling. In addition, the university has women’s teams in the following sports: basketball, golf, gymnastics, football, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball. UIUC is a member of the NCAA and plays at the highest level: Division I. All UIUC teams play in the BIG10 conference. Illinois sports teams are known as the ‘Fighting Illini’, cool name right? You can probably guess the university colors by looking at the photo below…
As you have seen in other spotlights, every university has its own yell, so does the University of Illinois! Check out the lyrics with the accompanying video below. Does it make you happy?!
Old Princeton yells her tiger
Wisconsin her varsity
And they give the same old Rah!
Rah! Rah!
At each university
But the yell that always thrills me,
And fills my heart with joy,
Is the good old Oskee-wow-wow,
That they yell at Illinois
Want to learn more about UIUC’s various sports programs? Then click here!
Academics
According to the US News College Rankings, UIUC is one of the top 50 universities in the United States. The university is also ranked 14th as the best public university. On average, the student-faculty ratio is 20:1, and nearly 40% of all lectures consist of fewer than 20 students. The five most popular studies are:
- Research and Experimental Psychology
- Economics
- Accounting
- Computer Science
- Computer Hardware Engineering
Curious about all the studies that UIUC offers at bachelor’s and master’s level? View the academic website here and click here to see if your desired study option (major) is offered.
Did you start thinking: “What Jerry does, I want that too!”? Reach out to us, and we will discuss your options!
