Lindsay Strong ’23 almost didn’t play a sport in college.
Before coming to Wellesley, Strong was on the field hockey, ice hockey, and softball teams at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass., but she didn’t think she’d be good enough to play at the college level. As Strong considered different schools, Wellesley wasn’t on the list. “I live about 30 minutes from Wellesley,” says Strong, who grew up in Concord, Mass. But in the end, that proximity got her connected to the College: The College’s then-field hockey coach, Julia King, a St. Mark’s alum, reached out to Strong’s coach to ask if anyone on the field hockey team would be a good fit for Wellesley. The coach immediately suggested Strong.
“So I visited Wellesley and went to classes and met the team, and I just really loved it. And so I applied, and that was my final decision,” says Strong.
She arrived on campus in fall 2019, and since then she has been a three-time NEWMAC Academic All-Conference member, a two-time member of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) National Academic Squad, and a 2021 NFHCA Third Team All-American athlete––the highest honor for collegiate field hockey players.
Strong encourages prospective Wellesley students to trust their gut: “Everything is going to work out, even if it’s not the way you expect it,” she says.
Since coming to campus, Strong has thrown herself into the things she loves. Field hockey, of course, is one of them. She remained committed to the team when COVID disrupted her sophomore season. “In spite of [the pandemic], she worked extremely hard on her own and as a junior was recognized as one of the top field hockey players in the country,” says Callie Lekas ’10, Wellesley’s head field hockey coach. In addition to her NEWMAC and NFHCA honors, Strong was also a captain of the field hockey team her senior year. “Lindsay has been a joy to a coach and a player that has grown more than any other I have coached in my time,” says Lekas.
One of Strong’s favorite field hockey moments was when the team played a game in front of a packed crowd during first-year orientation this past fall: “I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t forget this moment. It’s so great to be here right now.’”
A mathematics major and computer science minor, she is equally committed to her academics. She was named a member of the NFHCA National Academic Squad in recognition of her success as a student-athlete.
“There is so much you can do with math!” says Strong with her characteristic enthusiasm. She enjoyed math in high school but hadn’t planned to major in it in college. Once she started taking math classes at Wellesley, she loved how much her professors focused on theory. Math also became her gateway to computer science, which she managed to minor in despite not taking her first computer science class until her junior year. Her favorite class was CS304: Databases with Web Interfaces, taught by Scott Anderson, lecturer in computer science.
“The final project was making a web application that was backed by a database,” says Strong. “We worked in teams, which was really cool, and my group made a ride-share application meant for Wellesley students. … It was so interesting and also applicable. It seems like something that you could actually do as a job.”
Next year, Strong will start a master’s program in data science at Georgetown University, where she will also play Division I field hockey (she was eligible for an extra year of NCAA play due to the COVID disruption). Strong is excited to continue doing what she loves in D.C., but she will miss Wellesley––especially her field hockey teammates and coaches, her friends, her major advisor, Andy Schultz, the beautiful campus, and the “academic environment of Wellesley, where everyone is so driven and also collaborative.”
“Everyone here is so dedicated, no matter what they do,” says Strong.