Episode 4: Living out your dream(s)

Creighton’s volleyball program produced its most successful season in program history in 2024, winning 32 matches, reaching the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight and finishing ranked No. 6 nationally. Two of the biggest stars on that team: Norah Sis and Kendra Wait.

And all while Sis and Wait were excelling on the court, they were pursing their goals academically, too. They want to become nurses who positively impact the lives of their patients.

So, they had a lot of juggling to do. They still do, actually. Both Sis (Orlando Valkries) and Wait (Omaha Supernovas) spent the spring playing in the Pro Volleyball Federation – they were working toward finishing their nursing degrees at the same time.

How did they find balance? What did they learn about themselves, and each other? What memories still stick with them about their time at Creighton? Sis and Wait reflect on all of it during this From the Mall episode.

 

YouTube    Spotify     Apple 

 

 

More From the Mall episodes are on the way soon! Opt in for email updates.

 

 

Meet our guests

Episode 4 transcript

NORAH SIS

We cannot thank our nursing staff at Creighton enough. They have gone above and beyond. I always say when I committed to play at Creighton, I told Coach Booth, she was like, what are you thinking for your major? And I told her nursing and she was like, oh, that's going to be really hard to know. And I kind of was like, OK. I have no idea what all that entailed, and I didn't know how lucky I was to be able to go to a Creighton and do both because that's not a thing I really didn't know that. 

JON NYATAWA

Welcome in to From the Mall, a podcast where we share stories from the Creighton community that showcase achievements and impact. I'm your host, Jon Nyatawa. On today's episode, we're joined by two former Creighton volleyball student athletes, Norah Sis and Kendra Wait. From leading the Bluejays in high stakes matches to now sitting up as professional athletes, their journey is both inspiring and deeply grounded in passion for the sport and for serving others. We talk about what it's like to go from being team leaders in college to rookies in a pro league, how they balanced nursing school with their volleyball careers and why Creighton's support system made all the difference.

You'll hear some of their favorite memories, biggest life lessons and what it means to carry forward two dreams at once. And here's a fun update since we recorded this conversation. Norah's professional team, the Orlando Valkyries, they went on to win the Pro Volleyball Federation championship. She capped off her rookie season with a title, not a bad start. Hello, everyone. Excited to welcome Norah Sis and Kendra Wait to the podcast. Norah and Kendra, thanks for joining us. 

NORAH SIS

Thanks for having us. 

JON NYATAWA

It's good to see you both. Here's what I want to start with. This is the thing that I thought was a little bit, I don't know if it's weird, if that's the right word to describe it, but you guys were both, you went from playing in such a competitive environment at Creighton and you're on the court for every point and it's intense and the season ends in the heartbreaking way and then all of a sudden, boom, you're professionals now and it's a little bit different role. How do you do that? How has that adjustment been? 

NORAH SIS

Yeah, I think it's been fun. I was just telling someone the other day that it's been really fun to be the young one again, it's been a couple of years since we've been freshmen obviously. So going from a place of being senior, being a leader to now going to being, I mean, I'm the youngest on my team by a whole year I think. So just being able to learn from all the older players who have had so much experience and are so talented and such good leaders has been a cool role shift. I think obviously very humbling, just like this league and everyone in the professional world is so talented. So it's been just a really cool role shift and yeah, I've been having so much fun. 

KENDRA WAIT

Yeah, same. I would kind of echo that. It's just been a lot of fun and for me it's a little bit different still being in Omaha where again, you still have a lot of the connections and being around people, but again, it's just a whole new experience and to be able to learn so much. I have another setter on my team who's quite, I won't say how many years, but quite a few years older than me, and so being able to learn underneath her and just pick at the knowledge that she has, it's been really fun. 

JON NYATAWA

I'm a little bit surprised to hear it. Fun. Did you know that it was going to be fun? Was that the expectation? You both went into this thinking, I mean, because a competitor wants to play, right? 

KENDRA WAIT

Yes. I'll say definitely. That was the shift of, again, at Creighton, we kind of knew our role had been in it for a few years, and so I knew coming into this new experience, it was going to be a battle. There was nothing guaranteed. And I came in knowing there was two great setters on the team and I was with the expectation of this is going to be a learning. This is going to be a year to sit back, grow the game again, compete and work my butt off to try to get onto the court and earn playing time. Again, we are competitors and everybody wants to be on that court plane and wants to be a starter, but at the same time learning, just taking it knowing that there's so much more information out there that I haven't learned. So kind of using that as my motivation for this season. 

NORAH SIS

Yeah, I totally agree. And also something that Coach Booth always told us, she would always say, you play sports, you don't work sports, trying to get us to loosen up and well, now we are working sports. So it is a little bit different and I think that that definitely took a little bit to get used to because it kind of is your whole life, and it was a little bit easier to have more balance when we were doing, even though it was we were busier, it was easier to just be able to focus on volleyball and school and have all these relationships, other things. There was so much going on. Now it's like my whole day is wrapped around volleyball, so it definitely is. It's a very different world I think. But my coaches here are encouraging me, this is your job. You get to watch more film, you get to do this, you get to spend your time, spend your extra time in the weight room, stretching, recovering, all these things. So it's been weird to think of it as a job and hard at some points, but it is such a gift and it's just a different, looking at it through a different lens, I guess. No, 

JON NYATAWA

Yeah. I like what you said it being a gift because maybe it's a different perspective for professional volleyball players, especially who grew up in the us. I mean, when you guys both were in middle school or high school, this wasn't an option. This league hadn't been formed yet. So the fact that it's here, I don't know. Is it a dream was, I mean a lot of people aspire to be professionals. Did you both aspire to be professionals? I'll start with you, Kendra. Did you aspire to be a professional volleyball player? 

KENDRA WAIT

Honestly, when my option was to go overseas or not play professional, I didn't really think professional sports was going to be in my future. I was more going to be like, I like being at home. I didn't see myself going overseas, and so I really thought it was going to be college and then move on to the workforce. But then again, as professional sports in the U.S. started to develop and now professional volleyball was an option, then a hundred percent, I was like, I want to do this. So again, in college, that's kind of where that came. And also just again, the love of the sport. I say that I didn't really want to go overseas. I think now with how our senior season went and how much I just loved the sport and loved the girls, I was like, I might've potentially gone overseas. But again, with this opportunity, my heart is here. I love being able for family to come to games and seeing everybody still. So again, it was a great opportunity. 

NORAH SIS

Same, I would say growing up when I was asked the question what I wanted to do when I was older, I never would I have said volleyball. I didn't even think that that was, I mean, it wasn't an option at that point. And same with Kendra. I'm such a homebody. I could never see myself going and living in a different country for nine months out of the year. So I wouldn't say that this was a dream until maybe one or two years ago when everything kind of started coming together and this actually became a reality. That's when I would say this dream started. 

JON NYATAWA

And you're still in school. How are you balancing the challenges of going to school and doing some work as well? 

NORAH SIS

Yeah, it's been awesome. We cannot thank our nursing staff at Creighton enough. They have gone above and beyond. I always say when I committed to play at Creighton, I told Coach Booth, she was like, what are you thinking for your major? And I told her nursing and she was like, oh, that's going to be really hard to know. And I kind of was like, OK. I had no idea what all that entailed, and I didn't know how lucky I was to be able to go to a Creighton and do both because that's not a thing. I really didn't know that. So I grew into understanding how big of a deal that was and how awesome it was that they were letting us do that. Both the nursing staff and our coaches from both ends. It was such a big deal and just they made it such a great experience and for us to be continuing this and just carrying out two dreams at once, it's really crazy and we're super duper blessed that they are allowing us to do that. And they're not just saying, you can only have one you have to pick. So that's been awesome. 

KENDRA WAIT

Yeah, I remember having a conversation with our nursing advisor as this was kind of all coming and we were talking about our plan, be like, Hey, we want to play professional. What would this look like? Would this be possible? And they said, as nursing faculty, we want you to go pursue your other dreams. We still want you to be a nurse and we want to support you in any way he can, but we still want you to go pursue your other dreams. And I thought that was really, really cool of them to do. 

JON NYATAWA

Did you know Kendra, what you were getting into? As Norah said, she kind of figured it out that it was maybe challenging? Did you know it?

KENDRA WAIT

Nursing school is challenging and I knew not a lot of colleges allowed you to do both because of the time commitment and the challenges that came with it. But I think it was one of those I was like, if Creighton is willing for me to do it, that I'm, I want to go pursue it. And I definitely say it's not without it challenges. I've talked to many Creighton nursing alumni who are like, nursing school is so hard, how do you do it? And again, it's the support through everybody from teammates, coaches that faculty staff, like everybody just willing to work so well with each other I think made this a lot easier process. 

JON NYATAWA

How is it working, right? Are you guys just on Zoom calls with faculty, with classmates? 

NORAH SIS

Yes. We're doing this whole semester. We've done a Zoom call every couple of weeks just to get the content catch up with our professors, but a lot of it we have been able to do at our own pace. They've been super good at telling us what we need to do and then trusting us that we're going to get it done on time. So this semester was kind of a little bit more laid back, but over the summer is when we get to finish the clinical aspect of it. We get to go and do six weeks of preceptorship, which is where we basically work three shifts alongside a nurse, three shifts a week for six weeks. So that'll be very real life. I mean, that's what we would do as real nurses, so we're super excited for that. I know at least for me, I am absolutely loving it here, but I am missing the nursing part of it, so I'm super excited to go back home and finish that and just be in that environment again and be able to serve people. I love what a nurse does 

KENDRA WAIT

With that. I think this summer is going to be really fun because this is the first time we're really going to have school without the full college volleyball commitments that go along with it. So I am so excited to really be able to dive headfirst, only just immerse myself in their seat aspect of it. You kind of see what the future is going to look like. 

JON NYATWA

I feel like Norah, Coach Booth made a mention of this during the season at one point, and I don't know if it was you too, Kendra, where you had a 12-hour shift the night before a game or maybe the night after. I can't remember what she was. Was it before Nebraska where you guys were up late? 

NORAH SIS

Was it before or after Nebraska? 

JON NYATAWA

After Nebraska, maybe. 

KENDRA WAIT

So we were supposed to have the clinical the day we played at Nebraska, so we got out of that clinical day. But so then we played at Nebraska, we got back at midnight, 12:30, didn't go to bed until 1, 2 a.m. and then had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. the next morning. And we worked a 10-hour shift that day. I think we got out around 3-ish. So yeah, that was an interesting day for sure at a hospital. 

JON NYATAWA

Well, I don't know. What kind of advice do you give either your teammates or maybe even somebody who is aspiring to do what you're doing to balance the responsibilities of being a student athlete with also being a student? I mean, yes, Creighton is, as you said, Kendra Creighton is really good about encouraging students to pursue their passions, not just especially student athletes, not just on the field, but off it too, but it's challenging. What kind of advice would you give to people who might want to follow in your footsteps? 

NORAH SIS

I would say honestly, one of the biggest aspects that has been the most helpful I would say, is having Kendra. I think that, and obviously not everyone gets this luxury, but surrounding yourself with people that love what you do as much as you, I think that we were grinding it out together, so it made it that much more enjoyable. I know that Kendra wants to give her all to both volleyball and nursing, so that was always encouraging me and that was always holding me accountable. So I guess, and obviously, I mean, we spent every second of every day together. We would go from class to volleyball to homework to bed, to class to ball. We were always together. So not everyone has that, but I do think if you have the opportunity to surround yourself with people that love it as much as you do, because we both will say we got through it and we enjoyed it. It wasn't the worst experience ever because we genuinely really enjoyed it and it made the grind that much easier and just more fulfilling doing it with each other. 

KENDRA WAIT

I would also say having people around you support you, even if that's family members or maybe there's someone else away from everything that you can just go and continue to have that support system, I think is huge. Because again, it can seem very long. It can seem very daunting, but again, also when you're in it and it's just kind of like one step at a time, 

JON NYATAWA

I didn't realize that you guys, I guess it makes sense, teammates, both in the College of Nursing. So you did spend a ton of time together. Yeah, the chemistry was obvious on the court at least, like it translated, I don't think, did you guys ever, you ever disagree on the court? Was there ever any, 

NORAH SIS

Probably the most disagreeing we ever did was if something went wrong, I would say that was my fault, and Kindred would say that was my fault, and then we could never do anything about it, 

JON NYATAWA

Taking the blame. … Well, it was a cool moment, I know for a lot of Creighton fans to see you guys both on the court together professionally for the first time. Now I know it's happened since, but I think it was, I feel like it was in February because the Creighton team was there too, right when Nora, you guys played when Orlando played in Omaha. Yeah. Yeah, I think that was a cool moment. And you both played in the match too. How special was it to see each other when you happened to play each other? Basically now, because that's probably about the only time you seen each other than your calls. Like you said, this call is for school. 

NORAH SIS

Yeah, super duper cool. And also, yeah, when the first time that I was back in Omaha, just how our whole team showed up and just seeing coaches and everyone there, that was incredibly special. Yeah, I will never take that for granted. That was super duper special. 

JON NYATAWA

Let's pivot a little bit and go back in your memory bank. Not too far. You guys just finished your Creighton careers, but what are some of your favorite memories? 

NORAH SIS

That made me think of and fun off the court memory that I'll never forget is the bus rides back from the airport back to campus from the airport after a long travel weekend. And everyone is just so delusional, so tired, and every single time someone would start singing and then we would just all a sudden the whole bus would be singing. And it happened so many times, but just stuff like that that I'll never forget. Also, now that I'm away from them, I think just the fact that we got to live with our teammates, our best friends for four years straight is so cool, and I'll probably never have that again. So I think looking back at that, just the late nights doing homework together in the living room or just early mornings where we're all rolling out of bed and going to weights in the morning at six o'clock, stuff like that. I'll remember forever. But if you on the court memories, I would say yes, Texas from this year, anytime any single match in the NCAA tournament is always just the most awesome time ever. I would say beating Minnesota our junior year to make it to the Sweet 16 was just so much fun. 

JON NYATAWA

I feel like there was, you didn't mention this and maybe it isn't up there as much, but there was you guys a senior day, your senior game, you guys both got, it was a really cool moment to see at least you both honored at the same time and there was a standing ovation. 

NORAH SIS

Yeah. Gosh, that was very, very emotional day. I knew I was going to be crying the whole time, and I warned Coach Booth and then literally they announced me and I cried. But yeah, everything about that day was so special just to have so many family members there and just the whole crowd really supported. It's just like the cherry on top. That wasn't even our last game at home, but it's just fact that it's celebrating us seniors I think was super special in itself. And just being able to play, I don't know, that game is just extra exciting. No matter who we're playing, we know that everyone's going to get on the court, everyone's going to play next to each other. It's just super good vibes and being able to celebrate each other. We had a big senior class. We started with a very different group than what we ended with. We ended with, what did we graduate with? Seven, six or seven. So it was a big group and it was, yeah, super, super cool to do it with those people. 

JON NYATAWA

I thought you had a comment, maybe it was after your last game. I can't remember. It probably was because I think it was emotional where you were talking about just maybe how fortunate you felt to have landed at a place like Creighton. You touched on this a little bit, but when you're younger, looking at colleges, looking at teams, it's kind of hard to know what to look for and what might happen. And it just happened to turn out so perfectly for you. I mean, looking back on that, are you still as amazed at the way life unfolded, the way that your experience unfolded at Creighton and how it just happened to just really, it fit you really well and made for a good and sort of obviously life-changing experience? 

NORAH SIS

Yes, absolutely. I think looking back, and it's been cool to reflect on it now that I'm out of college too, and I think that looking back to however many years ago that was that I committed to creating, I 1,000% just attribute all that to the Lord. I think that I could have gone anywhere and I had no idea what I wanted. I was 12, no, I wasn't 12. I dunno how old I was, but I didn't know anything. And I think, yeah, absolutely. The Lord just knew exactly where he wanted me. He knew exactly what people he wanted in my life, and he knew exactly what experiences he was going to give me.

And I think, I mean, I couldn't have wrote it up any better myself. And we always talk about how cool it is that every single girl on that team from when I was a freshman to when I was a senior, comes from all over the country. And it's just really, really cool how God brings all these people into our life from all over to give us exactly what he knows that we need, whether it's very hard for us, whether it's just the most exciting time of our life.  It has been super cool to reflect on that, especially now that I'm out of it. But yeah, I 100% just attribute all of that to the Lord. I could not have written it up any better. I did not know what I wanted, what I needed and what he gave me was just so, so incredibly awesome. 

JON NYATAWA

Yeah, that's wonderful. Did you come to this realization toward the end of your college career, or did you recognize in the moment freshman year, wow, this is awesome. Oh my gosh. Sophomore year as you're going through it, you're like, this is incredible. 

NORAH SIS

I feel like, so I committed when I was a sophomore in high school and from my sophomore year of high school until I got to Creighton. And I feel like so many things just kept happening, and so many, I would hear all these awesome things about Creighton, and my parents kept telling me, oh my gosh, Norah, you picked the perfect place. This is going to be awesome. And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm so excited. But I really didn't know what to expect. And then, yeah, freshman year, I think I was just so awe in awe of everything. Everything was so new and so awesome. And then as the years went on, I think it just kept getting sweeter. And not that it got any easier, but things just kept, I wouldn't even say things kept getting better, but I would say I realized more and more how fortunate I was to be in that position and how fortunate I was to be surrounded by the people I was surrounded by and be coached by the people I was coached by, and get to live close to home and have my family so close and just do all these amazing things. I mean, we got to travel all over. We went to Europe because of volleyball. Who would've thought that we would get all these cool experiences just for playing a sport? And now we get to do it and make a living off of it. It's really crazy. 

JON NYATAWA

Thanks for listening to this episode of From the Mall. You may have noticed, due to technical difficulties, a portion of our conversation with Kendra didn't make the episode. Our apologies for that. Join us next time for more Creighton campus news and updates from the Mall.