Addison Pressley Prepares for Life at Cornell

One year from today, Addison Pressley will be setting up her freshman dorm room at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York—twelve hours from home. The Farragut High School senior from Knoxville, Tennessee gave her verbal commitment to play softball for the Red Bears in March of this year.

Cornell competes in the NCAA Division I Ivy League Conference and is coached by Julie Farlow, who is herself an alumna of the prestigious institution and its softball team.

Addison recounts that her recruitment process was quite different than she had expected it to be.

“I honestly didn’t even know what to expect. For the longest time I wanted to go and play at a Power 5 school. Academics have always been important to me, but so was being close to home. At the very most, I imagined somewhere 4-6 hours away.”

That all changed when Coach Tara Tembey, the Assistant Coach for the Red Bears, came into the picture. The two shared a FaceTime call in which Addison described immediately falling in love with her as a coach and everything she was being told about Cornell.

Addison, the ever-diligent student that she is, did her reading on the school after this initial conversation. From this individual research, she learned all about various academic offerings catered to her professional interests, as well as the rich, natural history of the university. By the time she attended a camp and received a tour in October of 2022, she was sold.

“It was fall and the leaves were beautiful and the waterfalls were amazing.. it was just beautiful. If the coaching staff hadn’t already sold it – the campus really did.”

Since March, Addison has been working alongside the team’s academic advisors to ensure that she is well-prepared for the daunting transition from high school to college.

Addison attests that each member of her class underwent an “academic pre-read” prior to beginning their senior years of high school. The purpose of this function is to help student-athletes craft a course load that challenges and promotes academic rigor similar to what they will experience at Cornell.

Rather than taking it easy during the last few semesters of high school, Cornell Softball aims to establish a solid foundation of academic-athletic balance in their commits in order to avoid being extremely overwhelmed come first day of classes.

Additionally, Addison and her fellow commits are supported from start to finish of Cornell’s competitive admissions season:

“The academic team has done a really great job at making sure we are all going to be ready for the admissions process and at keeping us on track to make sure we are hitting deadlines.”

With regards to how Addison is preparing for softball at Cornell, she shared that continues to work hard in lessons with her hitting coach Marc Weekly, who she credits with assisting in her recruitment process, anxiously awaiting the first time she gets to don her jersey for the Big Red. With multiple phone calls a week between her and Coach Tenby, she grows happier each day with her decision to play for the incredible university.

What really animated Addison was talking about Cornell’s School of Biomedical Engineering.

“I’m really looking forward to joining the research groups at Cornell. I’ve looked into them quite a bit and found one called The Bonassar Group within the College of Engineering and Biomedical Engineering that focuses on STEM cell research.”

Since Addison is still deciding between routes associated with prosthetics, artificial organs, and medical devices, Cornell’s major structure makes it possible for her to take introductory classes for each of these avenues and only after completing these courses will she be expected to narrow her focus to the area she feels most passionate about.

Addison looks forward to joining the Big Red family that boasts more than 250,000 graduates worldwide. When asked about her interests outside of the classroom and the field, she spoke of her eagerness to partake in the iconic traditions of the college.

One in particular that she can’t wait to experience is “Slope Day.”

“There’s this hill on campus that’s a pain to get up, but all of the students gather to fill the space and listen to live music playing at the bottom,” Addison says. “It seems like a really fun way to finish the academic year!”

She is also excited to see the many different outfits of “Touchdown” the Bear Cub statue that is  dressed in different flair throughout the year.

“When I had visited, football season was over so he was no longer in his jersey. Instead, he had been dressed in a little scarf to ensure that he was prepared for the incoming winter.

Even with all of the excitement, Addison shared what parts of the next chapter she is nervous about.

The biggest thing is being far from home. It’s 12 hours away. My mom is my best friend, so not being able to see her is going to be hard. Also, all my friends down here are not going to school in New York. Leaving behind people is going to be difficult. Additionally, I think being in New York during the winter will be an adjustment—I don’t like the cold, but i’ll just have to get used to that. It’ll be different but I’m excited.

Addison will sign to Cornell University in November and join the team in the fall of 2024.