Winona, Minn. - Beginning the week of Monday, July 13, the Winona State Athletic Department is proud to present the "Warrior Stories" series. 

Warrior Stories offers fans and followers of Winona State Athletics a view into the success that Winona State student-athletes have had as they move from their playing days and into the professional world.

Kicking off Warrior Stories is Taylor Klug who suited up for head coach Scott Ballard and the Winona State women's basketball program.  The Colgate, Wis. product appeared in 22 regular-season contests for WSU and logged in a season-high 27 minutes against Augustana.  Klug is the all-time leading scorer at Sussex-Hamilton High School and was a three-sport standout, competing in soccer, basketball and track and field. 

Later this summer, Klug is set to take the floor at the Mayo Clinic where she is heading into a career in medicine.  Recently, we caught up with Klug to learn more about her next chapter.

What is your new role at Mayo Clinic and what are some of your duties?
"Starting August 10^th, I will be enrolled within the phlebotomy program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. This is a 9-week program where I will be trained on how to draw and prepare blood samples from patients for lab testing and/or blood donation. By the end of the program, provided that I pass my certification exam, I will become a certified phlebotomist and begin working for Mayo either in an inpatient or out of the patient care unit. More specifically about the program, the curriculum involves learning about inpatient and outpatient care, transfusion medicine, arterial process and point of care, collection and processing, and also professionalism."
 
How did your academic training at WSU help you prepare for the opportunity at the Mayo Clinic?  
"My academic training here at Winona has been amazing. I have truly loved and appreciated all my professors and classes that I have taken within the biochemistry program here. I feel more than prepared for this opportunity and anything to come because my professors have always pushed me to be my best whether it was in the classroom or in the lab. They really care about their students and their success and I am very thankful for the relationships that I have built with my professors here at Winona. In fact, one of my professors is the reason that this opportunity was presented to me. I do still have a lot to learn but I feel very prepared and ready to take on any challenge presented because of the academic training that I've been given from my professors"
 
How did being a student-athlete at Winona State help you in your future role at Mayo?
"Being a student-athlete helped me within my current role mostly by teaching me how to be able to work with people and to be able to properly communicate with coworkers and patients whether it's in a casual, serious, or conflict situation. It has also helped me learn how to be more assertive yet respectful which I have learned is helpful in the workforce.  Playing sports in general always teaches someone time management, how to multitask, and to be able to properly handle conflict too.  One thing that people may or may not think about is how to contribute to the whole within your role.  On different teams (or jobs) you can have various roles and I think it's important for people to be able to recognize their strengths and role within a program and to use their strengths to contribute within those roles. However, they still may be able to push themselves and allow themselves to grow. An example of this stems from maybe not playing as much as you'd like but still accepting your role as an "energy player" on the bench.  You still need to be putting in the extra time outside of practice because you want to get better so you can play more minutes. It takes maturity and even just love for your teammates and the game to be able to push past not maybe being where you want to be yet accepting where you are and making the most of it but still working for what you want."
 
What do you miss most about being a college basketball player?
"It honestly hasn't fully hit me yet that my basketball career has actually ended, but I know once the season hits this will all change. As much as I want to say that I am going to miss the games - and I know I will miss the games a lot - basketball is more to me than just the games that you play or watch. You spend countless hours with your teammates, whether it was waking up early for morning workouts or lifting (workouts), the seemingly endless practices, or even just hanging out or studying together in our free time. Your teammates are your second family and the bond you form with some of your teammates is truly irreplaceable. I met some of my best friends for life playing college basketball and honestly, I think I'm going to miss that teammate bond the most."
 
What is your favorite basketball memory of your time at WSU? 
"As much as college basketball is about the wins and losses in the midst of the season, it's really not what you hold onto or what you think about when your career wraps up, at least in my opinion. Yes, of course, you remember and I still think about those crazy games where your adrenaline was high but my favorite memories still have nothing to with winning or losing or how well the season went, but rather the moments I spent with my team. With that, my favorite basketball memory was being on the bus for road trips when we had away games. There are too many funny and unforgettable moments to be able to just name one particular thing, but I will always cherish the moments I had with my teammates on the bus whether it was us playing Catchphrase, Mafia, or even just talking and being silly. "
 
As you settle into work at the Mayo Clinic, what do you see as your next chapter?  
"Working within the Phlebotomy Program at Mayo is actually the first steppingstone of my career, I hope. My current plan is to work as a phlebotomist for 1-2 years in Rochester to gain patient care experience within a hospital setting before moving onto graduate school. For grad school, I will be looking to apply to PA programs so I can become a physician's assistant, and it is my hope and goal to be able to further my schooling at Mayo and to be accepted within their PA program as well."  
 
Anything else you would like to share with the Warrior faithful? 
 "Nothing lasts forever and it's easy to take things for granted especially during the grind, but there's going to come a day where you'll do everything for the last time, so enjoy every second while you can. I would not take back any of my four years of college basketball. Even the hard times are worth it because it helps shape you into the person that you become and with that, all I have to say is, thank you basketball for some of the best years of my life and helping me become the person I am today."  

A tip of the Warrior helmet to Taylor Klug and best of luck at the Mayo Clinic.  Winona State Athletics would like to thank Taylor for taking the time to catch up with us and we appreciate the role you will play in health care in the future.  

For more on Winona State University athletics, be sure to check out  www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and @WinonaStateATH.