AME Grad Student Launching Rockets and Footballs

Kyle Ostendorp, who earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering this year, is not content with only aiming high in the classroom. On the football field, he's one of the best punters in the nation. Ostendorp averages nearly 50 yards per punt for Arizona Football, and also scored a 4.0 GPA. In an interview with KGUN, Ostendorp discussed the overlap between football and aerospace engineering. 

“A lot of the stuff I work with is fluid mechanics, so it’s like how the air flow goes over the ball, or like a wing, or air flows, something like that,” Ostendorp said. “So you can kinda see sometimes [those concepts] if I don’t hit a great punt, if it falls down too fast or too slow, kinda like that."

Upon his graduation, Ostendorp was valedictorian of all graduating UA athletes. Not content to peak there, he is now pursuing a master's degree aerospace engineering. With so many interests, his biggest challenge might be time management. 

“It’s definitely very hard waking up at 6 in the morning, and then going to bed at 10 every night. And then everything in between, I’m just booked,” he said. “Last year I actually had to miss practice a couple of times because I had class or presentations. But really just being consistent and focusing on my discipline, which [coach] Jedd Fisch has instilled in us quite a bit has helped me a lot. Because I know that my life outside of football will be benefited from the work I put in these 3, 4, 5 years.”