Boucher Perseveres Through COVID Start to Lead Tartan Culture

Kiera Boucher is a senior mechanical engineering major and one of the top players on Carnegie Mellon University's softball team. She holds nine career records, four season records, and two game records. Some of those records include the single-season program record for runs scored (30), the single-season program record for RBIs (28), the single-season program record for stolen bases (21), and career records for hits (123), stolen bases (55), runs scored (91), sacrifice hits (13), triples (8), and home runs (8).

"It was a lot of hard work, showing up every single day is a struggle but also a choice," Boucher said, "I attribute a lot of it to teammates, they helped me grow as much as I did."

Originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey, Boucher began playing softball when she was six years old. "My older brother played baseball and I remember being really sucked into the game," she said."

Boucher played on six different softball teams growing up, including a little league team that was one game away from the World Series. She played outfield throughout high school but was recruited to Carnegie Mellon University to be a third baseman and utility player.

Boucher went through a late recruitment due to the pandemic and met the coaches at Carnegie Mellon through a program called HEADFirst, a camp for high-academic athletes. From there she went on a visit to meet everyone and was offered a spot.

"Pretty much from the first time I saw the campus, I knew this is where I wanted to be," Boucher said.

Although Boucher immediately wanted to come here, she admits to having a hard time adjusting to life at Carnegie Mellon.

"It was a much bigger time commitment than what I expected but as much as it has been a struggle, it has also been a great learning experience," she says.

Boucher says that the trips have been fun and a great time, especially the ones for the University Athletic Association (UAA) series, and the entire experience taught her a lot about communication and that she has made her closest friends through the program.

"We spend almost every waking moment together, outside and inside of practice. We understand that we have to have a lot of trust on the team, and we try to build that trust very early on, especially with the freshmen, so they know they can rely on us," said Boucher.

Boucher has a lot of favorite memories with her teammates due to how much time they have spent together. Some are just fun memories on the road, but the ones she holds most dear are the familial gatherings they do over spring break and most recently, watching the eclipse together as a team.

"We went over to Schenley Park and played hacky sack and hung out," she said. "It was just nice to have some downtime together."

With the trust set into the program, Boucher received a lot of advice on how to proceed with her major from older mechanical engineers on the team. They told her when to take classes, how to stay on top of things and coordinate your calendar to fit with your busy schedule, just making sure that no matter what happened with softball, everything gets done.

"It was extremely helpful to me to have people I can turn to, and I just want to be that person for my underclassmen and help them with job searches and classes. I know how hard it was for me as a freshman and I just want to make it easier for them," she says.

Although Boucher spends a lot of time with softball, she did get a chance to branch out this year to be on a buggy team. CMU Buggy is a large carnival tradition and Boucher got to work as head engineer for the SAE team. She said that it was cool to see other parts of CMU culture.

"I met a lot of cool people that I wouldn't have known otherwise and hopefully will stay in contact after I leave," she says.

At the end of her senior year, Boucher says she will take a lot from her time at Carnegie Mellon. She says Carnegie Mellon taught her that nothing is for free and that sacrifices are necessary for what you have to accomplish. She said that she has learned to be both a leader and follower, as both are important to succeeding in life. And that even if the odds are against you, you can still get things done.

"I am confident that after all the setbacks I've had to handle, any struggle that comes my way in the future I can conquer. I've learned how to deal with different personalities and interact with different people all at once," she says.

Boucher also wants to thank her family for all their support, saying she doesn't think she would be here without her siblings spending hours at her games. She also has some advice for the incoming wave of softball girls:

"It's going to be a lot of work but a lot of fun. You had the work ethic to get here so there's nothing you can't do while you are here. But remember that it's totally okay to ask for help and lean on your coaches and teachers."

Boucher will be working at Burt Process Equipment this summer after she graduates and will return to Carnegie Mellon to pursue her master's degree in mechanical engineering.

"Kiera is an extraordinary person," said head coach Monica Harrison. "She came in during a time when the university was dealing with unprecedented circumstances with COVID and we were all figuring out how to safely remain open and stay engaged with our student-athletes. That year was a very hard introduction to a new team and college setting when we were restricted in our interactions by numbers and social distancing. Over the years, Kiera has flourished and has been such an instrumental person we all could lean on in different situations. She is a bedrock in our team's success and I'm grateful to have been along the ride of her journey through CMU."