April is Community College Month! In honor of the month and our students, Austin Community College District (ACC) shines the spotlight on Riverbats—the students who make our community college great.

Did you know the ACC offers intramural sports? Meet Adia Williams, president of the ACC’s Women’s Club Volleyball team. This season, the team made it to the final four! You can watch them in action at 1 p.m., Saturday, April 13, at the Austin Rec Center (1301 Shoal Creek Blvd).

Adia Williams is studying early childhood education and American Sign Language (ASL). She expects to graduate in 2025 and wants to work with deaf or hard-of-hearing children. 

Learn more about her ACC journey.

What are your future career goals, and what made you interested in pursuing them?

My goal is to work with children at the Texas School for the Deaf. I had a cholesteatoma in my left ear, which left me deaf on that side. It pushed me to start learning ASL and gave me a new purpose. 

What has your experience at ACC been like?

My experience at ACC has been nothing but seamless and fun. The courses are perfect for me. I work full-time as an Assistant Property Manager in Austin, and the asynchronous courses are really helpful for my schedule. Being the president of ACC’s Women’s Club Volleyball has been the most fun. I’ve made all of my ACC friends through the volleyball program, and I am so lucky to be a part of our Texas Collegiate Athlete Conference (TCAC) travel team. I graduated high school in 2020 during the pandemic, so I didn’t feel like college was right for me then. However, ACC has really helped me achieve all my goals.

How do you empower yourself to pursue your goals with confidence?

I empower myself through manifesting and believing. Half the battle is believing that you can do it. Once you believe that you can, the next steps are easy. I pursue my goals to the absolute best of my ability because nobody else can do something the exact way you can. 

What advice would you give other students to empower themselves to do the same?

My advice to other women pursuing their goals is to keep believing in yourself and the correct path will find you. There is no such thing as coincidence. You were meant to be here in this exact moment, and the universe always has a special plan for us. 

What is an accomplishment you are proud of?

I am very proud of making the “final four” in our league for the TCAC volleyball travel team this year. At this point, I have been playing volleyball for ACC for two years, and it took a lot of determination, change, and hard work to make it this far. I am excited to see how we can keep making new records for ACCWCVB (ACC Women’s Club Volleyball) in the future.

Tags: American Sign Language, ASL, Community College Month, intramurals, volleyball