"I feel like Tucson is such a perfect college town with everyone supporting the U of A. Being able to go out in the community and tell people, 'Hey, I'm a gymnast at Arizona, it would be great to see you at a meet' and then we actually get to meet them at an event, I think that's really cool."

Sport: Gymnastics
Majors: Management Information Systems and Operations Management
Hometown: Houston, Texas

During her time at Arizona, gymnast Jenny Leung strived to succeed as the complete student-athlete and to live the Wildcat Way.

Needless to say, she stuck the landing.

In four years with the GymCats, Leung established herself as a consistent presence in the Wildcats beam and vault lineups, excelled in the classroom, and contributed back to the Southern Arizona community at every opportunity. She is a three-time Academic All-American, was twice was recognized by the Pac-12 Conference for achievements in the classroom, and earned the Arizona Athletics Female Community Service Award following her senior campaign.

The recognition she received from the department last month is just the culmination of a lifetime of service back to her communities. Through family and her church Leung was raised with an emphasis on giving back, a principal she carried with her to college where she has been a frequent volunteer at the The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, the Boys and Girls Club of Tucson, the Girl Scouts, and more.

"I just enjoy helping out in the community – I think it's a real privilege to be where I'm at, to be a student-athlete and get all of these resources that are available to me," she said. "People out in the community don't necessarily have as much support as needed so I always like to give back."

Community is a two-way street, one gives to the people and the people give back. To that end, Leung has always been impressed by the support of Southern Arizona towards the Wildcats athletics programs.

"I feel like Tucson is such a perfect college town with everyone supporting the U of A," Leung said. "Being able to go out in the community and tell people, 'Hey, I'm a gymnast at Arizona, it would be great to see you at a meet' and then we actually get to meet them at an event, I think that's really cool. It's not only for gymnastics, either, because I remember last year when Women's Basketball made their run through the WNIT and the community came together to support that program it was great to see how engaged and accepting they are of our programs."

Leung's dedication to service was fit into a tremendously busy schedule that included training, competition, and academics. After masterfully balancing all these priorities for four years, she graduated last month with a double major in Management Information Systems and Operations Management.

"I grew up in a household where our parents had high expectations, but there wasn't a lot of pressure," Leung said. "They always said, 'We want you to do your best, and if your best is a B then that's okay, so long as you tried your hardest.' But they definitely always had high expectations for me because I had high expectations for myself and I knew what I was capable of."

Coming out of high school she was undecided on what was next in her academic journey, but still the Eller College of Management stood out to Leung as one of the biggest deciding factors in choosing Arizona.

"I knew coming out of high school that I wanted to major in business or something in that area, but I also thought about majoring in computer science," she said. "I wasn't really sure what to do, but then I went to orientation for Eller and I saw the MIS program that was basically a combination of business management and computer science. It was crazy, it couldn't have been more perfect."

Leung would be the first to admit that double majoring as an athlete could be difficult at times, but with the resources provided to her through C.A.T.S. Academics she found a path to success.

"My academic counselor really helped me find a good plan that helped me balance school and academics and create a workload that was challenging, but not so difficult that I couldn't handle it," Leung said. "I think having C.A.T.S Academics is a huge asset to our athletic community and I hope all athletes take advantage of their resources."

It was also through these resources that Leung applied to and received a prestigious internship with Nike in the summer of 2019. With the help of Associate Athletic Director of C.A.T.S. Life Skills Becky Bell she navigated through the rigorous interview process to land what she described as, "quite literally, the best summer of my life."

Following her life-changing internship at Nike in the procurement division, Leung completed her degrees and has since landed a full-time position with Nike as a procurement analyst.

"I think any internship, especially for college students, is essential to help experience the field you're trying to enter into," she said. "Essentially, an internship is just a three-month long interview process. So to have that opportunity and see from the inside what the work would be like and what your life would be like was really important."