Flexible schedule, location appeal to Iowa City figure skater Carson Bodnarek
Kirkwood Community College will welcome a different kind of athlete to campus next year. He won’t be joining the men’s basketball team in Johnson Hall but he will be training just as hard.
Carson Bodnarek, a senior at City High School in Iowa City, is a competitive figure skater. “I started figure skating when I was around 9-years old,” Bodnarek said. At the age of 11, he started competing with his skating partner, Lauren Gifford of Cedar Rapids. Bodnarek has since been in 35-50 competitions, winning an estimated 20 medals.
The schedule that goes along with Bodnarek’s skating career is not conducive to him attending a large University. “I’m going to Kirkwood next year because of how flexible the schedule is,” Bodnarek said. I plan on continuing skating next year and I want something that can accommodate my schedule.”
Hectic schedules are nothing new to this 17-year old. “At City High I’m involved with our competitive show choir 4th Avenue Jazz Company and also Concert Choir,” Bodnarek said. Bodnarek and his partner also busily trained for their first Senior Nationals in Cleveland. They trained every Monday through Friday from 6-9 a.m. before departing for Ohio.
That recent training appeared to pay off. Bodnarek and Gifford just returned from the Cleveland competition. The pair earned fourth place honors in the novice category, including a third-place finish in the free-skate portion.
Bodnarek will be attending Kirkwood’s main campus in Cedar Rapids next year because of its close proximity to their training spot, the city ice arena. He will be taking marketing classes at Kirkwood, in hopes of one day working in advertising for a large company.
As for his future in skating, Bodnarek is keeping his options open. “Perhaps I will be skating, only the future will tell,” he said.