Justin and Jocelyn Kiefel competed together in track & field for just one year each in high school and at Carnegie Mellon, but they cherished those times.
“It was a lot of fun. We spend so much time at the track so it was special to have Jocelyn there with me. She got to be on the inside and see what happened in my day-to-day life both in high school and college,” Justin expressed. “In college, it gave us the chance to travel to meets together and our whole family would be there.”
“It was nice to already know someone on the team who I knew I could go to for tips and tricks,” Jocelyn added. “I had been to Pittsburgh and seen Carnegie Mellon. It was convenient to be at the same school with him knowing what the school and area were like. I knew he enjoyed it and liked the engineering program. I already had his perspective.”
Justin’s decision to attend Carnegie Mellon was an easy one. “I had visited Pittsburgh in middle school and again in high school. Carnegie Mellon was a great place to attend college with high academics and a culture of people who are passionate about that they do,” he commented. “It pushes you to another level academically. The track team was a great opportunity, traveling more than most Division III schools and getting such high-level coaching.”
“It is common to not do as well in your first year. It is a normal, but I had someone close to me who had been through the program and the learning curves. With him being older and experienced, I was able to go to him for advice,” Jocelyn recollected. “I had been in her shoes as a freshman and could advise her. I just wish we had more years together at Carnegie Mellon.” Justin stated.
Jocelyn is graduating in May and has enjoyed her college time enough that she could envision herself staying in the city. “I am looking into product design and would like to be somewhere in the East. Pittsburgh would be a nice play to be and a lot of my college friends are staying here.”
Justin is making the most of his opportunities by working at home in Downington. He is working remotely for Leidos, a government contractor that focuses on machine learning, scientific research, and engineering among other things. He is volunteering as a jumps coach at his high school while also training to compete again after continuing his athletic career as a graduate student at Wisconsin in 2024.