During an interesting time with interesting circumstances, USFDons.com is reaching out to student-athletes and having them tell their unique stories. Led by award-winning USF Director of Creative Video Katie Morgan, live remote video interviews with the USF Athletics family will become part of USF's new series called "Dons from Distance."
MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Kia Vaalavirta wasn't left with much time to make a decision about where she was going to go.
Her home country of Finland put up travel restrictions on March 16, just days after the NCAA canceled the winter and spring championships, and the rest of the country began to follow suit with cancelations and "Shelter-in-Place" orders. Vaalavirta lived on campus at the University of San Francisco with women's basketball teammate
Abby Rathbun, but with the university moving classes online and shutting down campus, where would she go?
That's when Rathbun and her family stepped in. Why not keep staying together, as they already have for the first two years of their college experience?
In the first of USFDons.com's new series, "Dons from Distance," award-winning USF Director of Creative Video
Katie Morgan sits down and chats via live video with Vaalavirta, Rathbun, and her mother, Jen Rathbun. Vaalavirta has been staying on the Rathbun Family Angus Ranch since mid-March, having headed home with Abby to central Washington to stay with the Rathbuns at their home.
Plenty of new experiences for Vaalavirta, who has met some of the ranch's cattle by name, ridden in 4x4 vehicles on the property, cooked with the family and even worked out in a space the Rathbuns have cut out for the family.
Learn more by watching the video, and check @USFDonsWBB on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to see even more images of Kia and Abby's experience.
