Isiah Pettigrew started wrestling in his junior year of high school in Palatine, Illinois. He advanced in the sport quickly, placing fourth in his weight class at the state wrestling tournament in his senior year. He signed on with the Illini Wrestling team in 2020 as a freshman and has been wrestling throughout his academic career, which includes earning a bachelor's degree and beginning a master's degree at the iSchool.
Throughout his time at the University of Illinois, Pettigrew mastered balancing academics and athletics. For the past four years, his typical day included lifting and conditioning at 7:00 a.m., undergraduate classes, followed by more afternoon wrestling practices. During the season, this schedule was paired with cutting down to his weight class. Cutting calories affected his energy levels and his ability to stay focused on lessons—and made practicing and working out difficult.
"I managed to balance athletics and academics by telling myself to keep showing up. I developed a thought process for myself that no matter what, I have to keep showing up to class, lectures, Zoom—no matter how sore or beat up I was. Showing up helped me simply stay engaged with my coursework and stay on top of my assignments," he said.
Pettigrew decided to pursue a degree in information sciences because of his interest in data science and data analytics. He enjoyed the flexibility of the major and the different pathways available to students.
"Even within each pathway there's a plethora of ways to use your talents in the large umbrella that is information science," he said.
His favorite course was Reading and Writing Data (IS 312), an advanced composition course taught by PhD student Matthew Kollmer. In the course, students read and write about data-driven technologies to better understand their impact on our culture. Kollmer gives students the opportunity to engage with the technologies in question through assignments using programming languages and LLMs as well as ubiquitous information and data resources like Wikipedia.
"The course really showed how versatile data science is within many topics involving literature, computational sciences, and even his [Kollmer's] own individual studies," said Pettigrew. "It was a favorite because the instructor really showed an interest in how my peers and I were doing outside of class overall."
As he neared the completion of his BSIS degree, Pettigrew decided that he wanted to further develop his skills and dive deeper into topics such as AI and machine learning.
"When I reached out to Mr. Kollmer to discuss graduate school, he did not suggest that I pursue one program over another. Instead, he told me to take a step back and analyze all of my accomplishments, and based off of what I have done, decide what I should do next," he said.
Since starting the MSIM program last fall, Pettigrew has had to medically retire from wrestling due to multiple knee surgeries and injuries. In his free time, he enjoys playing the guitar, reading, playing with his dog, and playing video games.
"It has been a great experience," said Pettigrew of his time as a student-athlete. "I would be lying if there weren't a lot of ups and downs, but in taking a path that has hardships and challenges, progress is never linear."