Human biology major and dead-eye three-point shooter, Bonnie Samuelson earned her first career Pac-12 Player of the Week honor in December after knocking down a career-high 30 points against UC Davis. Although originally planning on leaving basketball behind on the Farm, Samuelson is considering playing overseas before pursuing a medical degree. The Stanford Daily’s Ashley Westhem sat down with the senior to reflect on her time on the team, on campus and her plans for the future.
The Stanford Daily (TSD): What are you interested in pursuing after graduation?
Bonnie Samuelson (BS): I’m majoring in human biology with a concentration in human performance. I want to go to medical school after I graduate but I’ve also been recently thinking about maybe going to play [basketball] overseas for a couple of years before trying to go to medical school, but nothing is set in stone yet. I definitely need to finish up my pre-med requirements and take a couple chemistry classes and the MCAT, obviously. But other than that, I want to take a couple of years off before I try to go to school again. Either traveling or playing or just studying.
TSD: Once you’re finished with your basketball career at Stanford after this season, what are you most looking forward to doing with your spring quarter?
BS: It’s going to be really nice to see what it’s like to be a normal student for a quarter. I know that me and a few of the other seniors [on the team] are super excited about playing some beach volleyball this spring. We’re going to go to the city more than we’ve been able to and just see other things because we’re usually so busy. It’ll be nice to not have spring workouts so that we can do more outside things, like taking different classes than we’ve taken before and see what else is out there.
TSD: What would you have wanted to get involved in if you weren’t a student-athlete during your time at Stanford?
BS: I always thought that it would be kind of fun to try something with theater. I’m such a dork and I love to entertain people and make people laugh, but that’s usually unintentional and by accident. So that might’ve been kind of fun to do something with theater.
TSD: Both you and your sister, Karlie, are in the starting lineup and your other sister, Katie Lou, recently committed to play at UConn. What’s the dynamic like between the three of you now that you’re all playing top-tier college basketball?
BS: It’s really cool that I get to start with Karlie right now. It’s super fun and it’s funny because we started in high school together and now we’ve come full circle. That’s really cool, and obviously she’s going to miss me next year. I’ve been really happy to have her with me the past few years, and we do everything together. If I’m going to the grocery store, she’ll come with me. Literally everywhere we go, we are joined at the hip, so I will definitely come back and visit her a lot. It’s been a really fun experience with her.
And then, [Katie] Lou is going so far away. I know I’ll definitely go visit her at UConn at least once next year and see how the other half lives over there. We got her a bunch of really warm Christmas presents like scarves and gloves and beanies. She’s a SoCal girl going to the East Coast so good luck with those winters, but I’m really excited for her too.
TSD: What’s a fun fact about yourself?
BS: I love, love, love to quote movies. I’m a huge movie fan and of funny SNL skits and things like that. Some of my fellow seniors [and me] are constantly quoting movies, and we love Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. Before every game pretty much, and with my dad too, we’ll quote movies all the time and have quote battles before games.
Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.