{"id":156791,"date":"2025-02-05T13:45:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T18:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=156791"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:05:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:05:05","slug":"wright-state-first-generation-student-bowls-over-obstacles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/05\/wright-state-first-generation-student-bowls-over-obstacles\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State first-generation student bowls over obstacles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Paige Patterson is a first-generation student at Wright State majoring in marketing, a member of the women\u2019s bowling team and an intern with the\u00a0 Athletics Department. (Photos by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

For someone who at first did poorly at bowling and had no encouragement to attend college, Paige Patterson has come a long way in both.<\/p>\n

The junior from Springfield is one of the kingpins of Wright State University\u2019s championship Division I women\u2019s bowling team<\/a>. And as the first person in her extended family to enroll in higher education, Patterson not only is doing well academically but also is learning in her major beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n

Majoring in marketing<\/a> with a minor in economics<\/a>, Patterson is a marketing and promotional intern with the Wright State Athletics Department<\/a> and serves on the Student Athletic Advisory Committee.<\/p>\n

Good accomplishments, especially considering she started with the figurative equivalent of throwing a gutter ball.<\/p>\n

Bowling is in her pedigree; her parents bowled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in a bowling alley,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t interested in watching, then I tried it in late middle school. I was in a Saturday morning league with kids I went to school with.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did not do well but stuck with the sport. In high school she got her first ball drilled to fit her hand, instead of relying on alley balls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI skyrocketed into doing well,\u201d Patterson said.<\/p>\n

In the first year of having that ball, she qualified for the state scholastic bowling championship and was player of the year in her conference.<\/p>\n

That got the attention of college recruiters, who came calling in her junior year. While that was nice, college wasn\u2019t in her plans. Patterson said no one on either side of her family ever attended college, and there was no encouragement for her to be the first.<\/p>\n

As a senior, Patterson was approached by Wright State, which then had a women\u2019s club bowling team \u2014 meaning she would have to pay tuition and cover the expenses to continue with the sport. Still, the thought of continuing her education came to mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought maybe college would be good, but I had doubts,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAfter discussing it with my mom, she said I should try it \u2014 that if I didn\u2019t like it, I didn\u2019t have to do it forever. So I called the coach and said I changed my mind and that I would happily come bowl for Wright State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three days later the coach called with good news \u2014 bowling was becoming a Division I sport, so she would have a scholarship and bowling expenses covered.<\/p>\n

When she arrived at Wright State she dove right into campus life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived on campus and did the full experience. I knew I\u2019d be involved, going to every event possible,\u201d said Patterson, a self-described extrovert.<\/p>\n

Academically, she initially considered accountancy and or general business as a major but eventually decided to major in marketing and later added a minor in economics.<\/p>\n

Athletically, she and the women\u2019s bowling team have done well. Last season, the team won the Ohio Bowling Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got really cool Super Bowl-esque rings,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re on pace to win the conference again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Paige Patterson grew up bowling and decided to enroll at Wright State after being recruited to play on the women\u2019s bowling team.<\/p><\/div>\n

Melding her interest in marketing and athletics, Patterson is also an intern with the Athletic Department, assisting with in-house production during games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make the music playlist, make graphics for the Jumbotron, write scripts for the announcers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And when ESPN airs Raider games, she sits beside their announcers to assist as needed.<\/p>\n

Patterson widens her education and experience by serving on the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, which oversees activities related to athletics, ways to encourage students to attend games and volunteer opportunities. The most recent activity was a toy drive to benefit young people in For Love of Children (FLOC) in Dayton. She is also the director of the NCAA affairs subcommittee, which discusses new rules or developments from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.<\/p>\n

Patterson\u2019s accomplishments and contributions are not lost on Joylynn Brown, Wright State\u2019s director of athletics at Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen women\u2019s bowling transitioned to a Division I sport two years ago, there were some growing pains,\u201d Brown said. \u201cA more stringent practice schedule, much more time commitments for the team within the Athletics Department and more difficult competition. Paige accepted every one of those challenges and thrived doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is so willing to get involved and will step up anytime we need someone,\u201d Brown continued. \u201cHer work as an intern for us has been top-notch. We are fortunate to have student-athletes like Paige in our department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patterson has found a calling in sports marketing, hoping to work with a professional team after she graduates. Football and basketball come to mind first, \u201cbut I would enjoy any of the sports that we work with here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And she has found a home at Wright State, where she said her parents are proud of her accomplishments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Wright State,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the best experience. The opportunities and the people I\u2019ve met here \u2014 things have never been better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State student Paige Patterson is thriving in her business courses, on the women\u2019s bowling team and as an intern with the Athletics Department. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":156751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,748,715,4908,2061],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-business","category-news","category-supply-chain-management-marketing-and-management","category-undergraduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156791"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156807,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156791\/revisions\/156807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}