A Power on and off the court

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part series about the 2024 inductees into the Creston High School Hall of Fame.

A member of Creston’s last state basketball team, Debra (Oxenreider) Power never left her love of athletics and wellness behind. For the past 38 years, Power has been working at Iowa State University’s kinesiology department, helping students find their passion in health.

Her passion for helping others with their health stems from her childhood and teen years in Creston.

A 1980 graduate of Creston High School, Power will be inducted Friday into the Creston Community Schools Hall of Fame as an alumni. The ceremony with the other inductees will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Creston High School auditorium.

Power’s time in sports started at a young age, encouraged by her mother’s profession. As an elementary physical education teacher, Betty Oxenreider knew how to encourage physical activity in children, including her own.

“Even growing up, my mom was an elementary P.E. teacher and we were always at a ball game growing up, and my brother played sports,” Power said. “It’s not necessarily sports, but health, fitness, exercise, has been a part of my life and my family’s life since I was young. I just have always had an interest, and I’m sure much of it came from my mom.”

High school athletics

Power explained that unlike students now, who often specialize in one sport, her generation would simply do whatever was in season.

“Not that it was an expectation, but we just went from one sport to the next, same coaches. It’s not that way now, I know, but it was a unique time, I think,” Power said. In high school, she played basketball, softball and track. “Actually, for all three sports, it was Eldon Gammell and Mike Gerleman were the two primary coaches in high school. They coached every sport.”

Despite not specializing in any particular sport, Power went to state competitions in all three during her time at Creston High School. In softball, Power was a first team all-state second baseman, the team earning fifth at state in 1978. Power was also a member of Creston’s relay team in track, qualifying for the state meet three years in a row.

However, basketball was the real star during her high school years. During Power’s freshmen year, Creston’s girls basketball team was only in its fifth year, thanks to a federal law requiring equal treatment in sports. However, they managed to make it to the state tournament two years in a row, in ‘77 and ‘78. Creston’s girls basketball team has not made it to the state tournament since. Power explained there were not separate divisions during this time.

“At that time, in basketball there were no classes, so it was just the top 16 teams, big schools and little schools, played to go to the state tournament,” Power said. “If you were one of the top 16 schools, it didn’t matter if you were a big school or a little school. You just play against everybody.”

However, the summer between her junior and senior years, Power severely injured her knee, resulting in surgery and rehab. Though the injury was mostly sorted out by her senior basketball season, she injured it again during the first game.

“It was kind of a season ending knee injury,” Power said. “I didn’t actually play my senior year.”

The injury eventually became a career-ending injury. With a scholarship to play basketball at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, Power quickly reinjured the same knee.

“Instead of playing, I became a student assistant coach. I had all of the opportunities to travel with the team and learn the ins and outs of the coaching part of basketball,” Power said. “I certainly had a great experience at Creighton as well that was related to being recruited to play basketball.”

Finding her passion

As a student at Creighton, Power’s plan was to get a degree in physical education, following in her mother’s footsteps. However, near the end of her program, she realized that wasn’t necessarily what she wanted to do.

“I kind of realized as I was going through that I didn’t necessarily want to be a physical education teacher,” Power said. “I decided to go to grad school and the closest area of interest at that time at Iowa State was physical education and leisure studies, which has now become kinesiology. Like many, I probably attended graduate school because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”

Power became a teaching assistant at ISU while earning her masters degree and 38 years later, is still teaching.

“I got to Iowa State and got my masters and was a teaching assistant during my master’s years, and just was hired out of grad school to teach some classes. My position has just grown over the years,” Power said. “I’ve taught a variety of different classes. Currently, I’m primarily working with students selecting their internships when they are getting ready to go out and pursue their career.”

ISU’s kinesiology program is the third-largest major on campus, so Power sees all types of students in her work. As the kinesiology internship coordinator, Power helps students explore what they want to do with their future.

“A lot are seeking going into physical therapy or occupational therapy or med school or dental school, and others are becoming personal trainers, health educators, athletic trainers, just a gamut of different career options,” Power said. “It’s hard for students to really hone in on exactly what they want to do, so that’s part of my job, getting them out there to experience some things, to see what they’re a good fit for and what’s a good fit for them.”

Power credits her time in athletics and Creston to her career now.

“The lessons learned in the first 18 years of my life in Creston - the importance of teamwork and communication, overcoming adversity, being a good leader, putting in the work to reach goals and many others - are what shaped my life,” Power said. “I believe it was that early mindset and those basketball experiences that propelled me forward in my career.”

A family affair

Outside of work, Power is still deeply involved in athletics, whether watching or playing. She met her husband, Mark, while studying at ISU. Mark is also a professor there, though his focus is business. Her children Jenna and Connor both were college athletes as well.

“We’re huge Iowa State fans, of course. Our kids were always around athletics as well. My daughter played college basketball, my son played college golf,” Power said. “Sports have just been kind of a center for our family, something that we all have in common, that we all enjoy watching together, playing together. Now it’s not necessarily playing basketball together, but we’re big golfers. We enjoy playing golf as a family, and sometimes family vacations.”

As she nears 40 years in her field, Power gave some advice to young people interested in kinesiology.

“I think it’s important the earlier that students can put themselves in an environment that they think they might want to work in as a volunteer or shadowing experience, some form of that which young people can do to give them a taste of, is this for me or not,” Power said. “I think it’s really important for them to find a place that they’re excited to go to work. You have to enjoy helping people, because that’s really what we do.”

No matter the career field a young person is looking into, Power said to give it your all and to continue your education.

“Whatever career one pursues, give it your best effort, and always keep learning,” she said. “Careers take many twists and turns - mine is probably an outlier - and it is important to keep an open mind about the endless possibilities that young people have in front of them.”