Like many first-year HBCU students, Talladega College freshman Kyrstin Johnson has the task of getting acclimated to a new way of life in the past several months.
“It’s different. Because in high school I was homeschooled — so I wasn’t really around people a lot,” Johnson said in an exclusive interview with HBCU Gameday. “I’ve always just been going to my house doing homework — then practice so it’s just like a routine like every day.”
Kyrstin Johnson is definitely making the adjustment look easy. The Baltimore, MD gymnast is the newly minted USAG national champion in the vault. Not bad for a first-year student at a first year program. But as we learned in our interview, Johnson is a fast learner.
Self-taught, with inspiration
Johnson was always doing gymnastics — whether she was in a gym or not. She didn’t get active in the sport until she was 10 because her parents were dissuaded from getting her involved due to time and cost. But even at that age, she had a passion for the sport that could not be ignored.
“Before starting gymnastics, I was self-taught,” she said. “I was flipping everywhere. So it couldn’t have been ignored. So I’m glad to be where I am. It’s a blessing.”
Eventually, her parents gave in and her path to becoming a national champion was there. Despite growing up in the Baltimore area, she says she didn’t have a lot of black role models around her, so Gabby Douglas and Trinity Thomas became her inspirations. Attending an HBCU was something Johnson says she wasn’t sure would happen because when she started high school there were no HBCUs.
Then came Fisk University, which began competing in 2023. Johnson was initially verbally committed there. But then Talladega College announced it would be fielding a program and Johnson felt that it would be a better academic fit for her needs. So she became the first gymnast to commit to TC.
In addition to having a place to compete in gymnastics with people who look like her and having academic programs that fit her goal to be a veterinarian, she has also found community at Talladega.
“Now I’m always surrounded by people getting to know people it’s like a family,” Johnson said. “Plus I’m loving the band and watching the fraternities, and sororities.”
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