Nicholas Kratholm

Classroom

Nicholas Kratholm is on track to graduate in the spring of 2020 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Bio-Technology. Kratholm currently holds a 3.55 GPA and has completed 127 total credit hours of coursework. Kratholm made the Dean’s list three times at Niagara University and once during his time at Miami Dade College.

Kratholm has a goal to graduate with at least a 3.5 and earn the graduation honors of Cum Laude. Looking towards the future, Kratholm is fascinated with medicine and this year has only boosted his interest. Kratholm is currently in the process of exploring the pathway of getting accepted into medical school. 

Along with his standard course work, Kratholm works in the Niagara University Microbiology Lab on a research project with a focus on discovering and studying bacteriophages and their effectiveness to treat MRSA and other bacteria resistant bacteria.

Character

Nicholas Kratholm’s biggest obstacle to overcome has been the complexity of playing NCAA Division I basketball and excelling in one of the most challenging undergraduate majors. Throughout college, Kratholm has been working extremely hard to stay on top of both his academics and athletics. Whenever they go on road trips, you can always find him studying on the bus and/or plane and in the hotel lobbies. There is hardly any time for relaxation. For example, during this past Christmas break, Kratholm was working on the last stages of the microbiology research project he is involved in.

Kratholm has received many compliments and recognition from his professors for the dedication he can maintain in the difficult classes even while traveling and spending many hours every day in the gym, weight room, and film sessions. Kratholm has gained the support of his peers and professors who would go out of their way to help him with the work he missed.

Kratholm was class valedictorian in high school and a two-time recipient of the outstanding character award.

Overcoming the challenges of transferring schools twice, pursuing a difficult science major, and the rigors of playing college basketball is a personal achievement he is extremely proud of. Kratholm is the first person in his family to be a college athlete and doing it at the highest level means a lot to him.

Community

Nicholas Kratholm has had the opportunity to be a team leader for elementary-aged students who participated in team basketball camps. Kratholm emphasized the importance of getting a good education and staying focused in school and shared some knowledge on his journey of becoming an NCAA Division I college basketball player. Overall, his time with the kids was special, he felt like he was developing a relationship with them.

In the summer of his freshman year, Kratholm had the opportunity to visit Denmark and his family (his father was born and grew up there, and Nicholas is fluent in the language). Kratholm spent a month training with a basketball club in Aarhus. During this time, Kratholm was able to train and compete with others around his age. As an American college athlete, Kratholm spent some time speaking to some of the players about what it’s like to play NCAA Division I in America and the time and effort required. Kratholm explained the recruiting process to them and how they can reach out to universities in the United States.

During his sophomore year, Kratholm was a volunteer for the annual Halloween party. This was a huge event for local kids in Miami to come and play games and get candy on Halloween. These kids were from areas where it wasn’t safe to walk the streets on Halloween evening. This was a fun time and allowed Kratholm to connect with children of all backgrounds and help them have some fun.

Competition

Nicholas Kratholm used his freshman season to grow and develop his game. Kratholm was also an integral part of game preparation, studying game film of their Atlantic 10 conference opponents and during practice and pregame walkthrough. Kratholm was a part of the scout team who reenacted the offensive sets of the opponents while our starting players defended against it in preparation for the games.

As a sophomore year at Miami Dade College, Kratholm was a starter and an integral part of the team, averaging 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds on a squad that had five players go on to play at the NCAA Division I level and several others play at others level of college basketball. Kratholm earned a spot on the second team All-Conference.

As a junior at Niagara University, Kratholm played in 27 games and started in 20 games. The team was predicted to finish near the bottom of the conference, but finished in the top half and won a game in the conference tournament before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the tournament. They were part of a shortlist of teams that ended the 2019-2020 season with a win. 

This season, Kratholm has started in every game.