Balance is paramount when Kaitlyn Donovan ’24 attempts a front layout Rudi, the final and most difficult pass in her floor exercise, as she flips and twists in the air and sticks the landing with her toes a fraction of an inch from the boundary line.

Balance is also important as she manages graduate courses in Illinois State’s Mennonite College of Nursing, a full-time nursing job at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, and a rigorous training and competition schedule as a member of the Redbird gymnastics team.

But the graduate student from South Lyon, Michigan, makes it look easy—and does it all with the same smile she proudly displays at the end of a flawless floor routine.

“It seems like a lot when you look at it on paper, but it’s not as hard as it seems,” Donovan says with a no-big-deal shrug. “I’ve always been passionate about nursing, and I knew this is what I wanted to do after I graduated. I wasn’t sure if I’d take my fifth year of gymnastics, but now I’m so glad that I did.”

Illinois State’s gymnastics team is enjoying its finest season in recent memory, pushing for a Midwest Independent Conference title and its first NCAA Regional berth since 2002, and Donovan is playing a key part in it. The two-time all-conference selection specializes in the floor exercise and vault, although she’ll also occasionally showcase her talent—naturally—on the balance beam.

Donovan has impressed teammates and coaches alike in the balancing act she’s performing in her final season. That includes Bob Conkling, who has mentored more than a few impressive student-athletes in his 20 years as head coach.

“She does a 12-hour nursing shift and comes in at 7 a.m. and goes straight into our workout. She’s always prepared, always ready,” Conkling said. “I honestly don’t know how she does it, but she seems to be able to handle it.”

Conkling doesn’t know where Donovan gets all her energy. “She’s even stopped by our office in the middle of the day and said, ‘I have 10 minutes between classes. Do you have anything you need me to do?’” Conkling recalled. “And I’m like, ‘How about sitting down for 10 minutes?!’”

A full-time nursing job wasn’t Donovan’s initial plan for this year. She sought a part-time position at OSF, but they needed a full-time nurse to work nights in the intensive care unit. Donovan couldn’t pass up the opportunity and met separately with Conkling and her OSF manager to assure them she could handle both gymnastics and a full-time nursing job.

And so far, she has. She chalks it up to routine, something she’s learned in gymnastics.

“Time management is something every Division I athlete has to learn,” Donovan said. “When you’re done with class for the day, do you take a nap? Or do you finish your homework early so you can go to bed early? That’s kind of the thing that you have to continually ask yourself.”

It’s not always easy, but Donovan isn’t one to complain. She struggled finding the right sleep routine at first. She’s had tough nights at work, dealing with the occasional difficult patient who takes their frustration out on the care staff. Some patients have passed away on her shift. It can take an emotional toll.

“But the good times outweigh the bad,” Donovan said. “I’ve seen a lot of patients who were really, really sick, make it and pull through, and they come back, and they cry and hug me and say, ‘Thank you,’ and that’s the really rewarding part.”

Her nursing experiences thus far have only strengthened her passion for the profession, and she’s already accepted another full-time job at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital that she’ll begin after the spring semester. She’ll finish out the final two years of her family nurse practitioner master’s program with online courses offered by Illinois State.

But Donovan is soaking it all up in her final semester on campus this spring. Despite her extraordinarily busy schedule, she still takes time for ordinary hobbies. She’s a food prepper who enjoys cooking and mapping out her meals for the week. She paints and crochets. She’s a mom to two cats.

She also maintains a wide social network that includes not only her gymnastics teammates and nursing peers, but others she’s met along the way, and many fellow student-athletes she met as a former president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. It also includes her brother, Tommy, a member of Illinois State’s football team.

“Maybe it’s because it’s my last year here,” she said, “but I’ve been feeling a lot of gratitude lately for all the things I have in my life.”

For that, Donovan is finishing her time at Illinois State as she does all her gymnastics routines.

With a smile.

Donovan and the Illinois State gymnastics team return to action Friday, February 28, at 7 p.m., as they welcome Centenary, Central Michigan, and Bowling Green for a home meet at Horton Field House. Admission is free.