Current Status: Alumni
Graduation Year: 2020
Currently a senior and Vice President of HIU’s Student Government Association, Leigha Williams, is a natural leader. During her junior year she served as the only non-senior Captain on the HIU Royals Women’s Soccer team, and achieved one of the highest cumulative GPA’s of any student athlete (3.85). Her presence on the field makes a tremendous difference for her team, which went as far as it has ever gone last season, largely due to Leigha’s playing ability and the culture she helped shape on and off the field. Williams leads spiritual small groups with her teammates as well as weekly study groups to help herself and others boost their schoolwork. She participated in the Human to Human club, focused on making sandwiches for the homeless, and has been active in the Fellowship for Christian Athletes.
Williams also worked as a teacher’s assistant at Carrillo Elementary with disabled students, assisting with schoolwork, teaching math, helping with crafts and serving as a mentor and motivator. She has been active with Night to Shine, an unforgettable Prom Night founded by Tim Tebow for the special needs community.
In her senior year, Leigha received the Cliff Hamlow Award, which is given to just one male and one female student-athlete on each GSAC campus. This award recognizes students who demonstrate outstanding athletic achievement, campus and community leadership, future ambition and embraces the five core character values of the NAIA Champions of Character program (Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Sportsmanship and Servant Leadership).
“When we put on our HIU jersey, we are not just representing who we are as an individual, but the school’s and team’s values, as well as Christ himself,” Leigha says.
Leigha gives back to her favorite sport by contributing to North Huntingtin Beach Academy Nights at Hope View School where she teaches soccer skills and drills, facilitates a 7-week soccer training for 8-9 year-old boys, models sportsmanship, and collaborates with coaches.
In addition to taking her final semester of classes, Leigha also works as an Assistant Account Executive at a local accounting firm. As an accounting major, Leigha was thrilled to land this position as she transitions from college student to college graduate. “I had my first ‘only God’ moment when I was hired as an accountant,” Leigha shares. “The way things just fell into place reassured me that this was His will for me.”
Looking back on her college career at HIU, Leigha says, “Hope gave me the opportunity to be more than an athlete. I learned how to ask important questions, and to be an advocate for myself and others.”
