Whether she’s walking through campus or playing on the softball field, you can hear her name called from a mile away by her friends and teammates: KATIE WATTS.
Not just Katie, but the Katie Watts—always her full name, which various Endicott staff, faculty, and students call her by.
Katie Watts ’23 admits she likes being known and called by her full name, but “sometimes you’ve got to bring yourself back to Earth and just say okay, yeah, Katie Watts, but you’re also just Katie, and you’re Kate to your mom. You’re just a person,” said Watts.
For the math major (and minor in secondary education), this humility was learned growing up from her mother, a single parent who adopted Watts at age one. Despite Watts’ numerous achievements—Presidential Ambassador, Tour Guide, Orientation Leader, softball star, just to name a few—she still works hard to lead, motivate those around her, and make her mother proud.
“My mom has been my number one supporter,” Watts shared, “but I realize not everyone has that, so I would like to be in a position to support those kinds of people. Whether that’s being a teacher, a coach, or wherever life takes me that’s kind of what I want my goal to be.”
Ironically, Watts didn’t picture herself as the getting-involved type during her first year on campus. She was quiet and got nervous a lot. But once she heard advice about saying yes to opportunities during orientation, Watts dove right in.
“College is the place to grow in a really safe environment,” she said. “I tried to stay true to that mindset, and I’m really glad I did. I’ve seen opportunities in high school where I’ve grown, and I just wanted to keep going because I know that I’m not at my full potential yet.”
Watts also grew academically through multiple internships where she taught math to local middle- and high-schoolers. While teaching 12th graders at Everett High School during the fall 2022 semester, Watts learned a lot about her philosophy as a teacher.
While learning math is important, Watts noted that life is much more important. Helping young adults figure out what they want to do and how to best support them in that endeavor is her overarching life ambition. So, Watts used extra time in class to talk about establishing goals for post-graduation and into the future, relating what students learned in math to what they wanted to pursue in life, even if those goals didn’t involve attending college.
“Once you get to that age, it really smacks you in the face, and it’s kind of scary,” said Watts. “If you don’t have someone in your corner, it’s even scarier. That’s why I like teaching 12th graders because I’d like to say I was a good support system for some of them.”
Though she’s famous around campus for her various roles, Watts is most known for her role on the softball field, where she has played competitively since the age of 10. Since coming to Endicott, she has helped propel the team to three Commonwealth Coast Conference championships.
Watts credits her mother, a former University of Vermont basketball player, as her ultimate inspiration and driving force to make an impact at Endicott.
“I wanted to make sure that the time that she spent on me is worth it,” said Watts. “Whether that is just in softball, or even now in life, and whatever I do, I want to make sure that she’s proud of me and that all of her support was well worth it.”
Watts also strives to be a support system on the basketball court as the student manager for the Endicott men’s basketball team.
“I talk to student-athletes a lot about their mindset—not necessarily the game—but really just why are they doing these things and the reasoning behind their decisions, and I really enjoyed that.”
Watts plans to return to Endicott in the fall to pursue a master’s in sport leadership. “Between, math, education, and then my sport leadership background, I’m hoping I can be a triple threat, in whatever I do and really use all of it,” she said. “I mean, I feel like I already am using all of it right now.”