Between Classes and Competitions, Trevecca Freshman Builds a Life on the Ice

Kamrym Sanderfer

Staff Writer

On Monday morning, exactly one week before final exams took place on Trevecca’s campus, freshman Elena Mills packed her bookbag, ice skates, and a week’s worth of clothes onto an airplane set for São Paulo, Brazil. It is here that she studied in preparation for her final exams on December 9th-11th, while simultaneously representing Brazil as an international figure skater in the Brazilian National Championship that same week.

On December 6, 2025, she won first place in the women’s junior level of the Brazilian National Championship. Two days later, on Monday, Dec. 8, she flew back to Tennessee, arrived at Trevecca on Tuesday night, Dec. 9th, and took her first exam the following morning, Wednesday, Dec. 10.

The 18-year-old Brazilian/American has represented the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation (CBDG) as a figure skater since she was 14 years old, when Mills interviewed with the vice president of the CBDG, Claudia Feital, via Zoom. Though college was an expected step up in academic challenge, balancing school with her competitive sport is not unfamiliar to her. Mills spent many years before college doing homeschool to balance time for travelling internationally to compete and keep up with a rigorous training schedule while completing secondary education.

“She honestly handles it pretty well,” said Neveah Atyim, Mills’s roommate. “I think that…she trusts her work that she’s been working for, if that makes sense. She gets up at 6am, skates, she’s there for like three hours, and then she comes back, super chill, laid back. I’m like, ‘Wow, you just skated for three hours.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah.’”

Mills has created a routine that allows her to keep up with both her demanding training schedule and college life. 

Monday through Friday, Mills wakes up by 6 a.m. and is at the rink by 6:30. She trains on and off the ice, individually, with her coach, and in class with others until 11 a.m. She is back at Trevecca and in class by 12:15 until 3 p.m., when Mills goes back to the rink and is on the ice by 3:45 for cardio training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

On some afternoons, she sticks around to coach private lessons, where she makes $60 per hour.

Leigh Ann Danzey-Bussell, exercise and sports science professor, said that students who keep competing while they’re earning their degree show a rare level of focus and commitment. 

This pays off in more ways than one for Mills, said Danzey-Bussell, and that the connection between theory and the kind of day-to-day experience that Mills has often leads to sharper insights and a much more grounded understanding of how the sports industry really works.

 “You have to be very disciplined, because it’s also not a team sport, so it’s a lot of just you,” Mills said. “You need to be responsible for your training. There’s a team, because you all train together…I have friends that I cheer on, but I’m also competing against them.”

When Mills was 6-years-old, she began public skating with her mom for fun. Her mother had always enjoyed watching figure skating but had never gotten the chance to try it in her younger years due to growing up in an Adventist family. 

When Mills began taking lessons and competing at seven years old, she continued to skate casually with her mother – that is, until Mills began doing tricks that her mother could no longer keep up with, like skating backwards.

Since then, skating has taken Mills around the world for competitions. She competed in three ISU Junior Grand Prix events in Osaka, Japan; Ostrava, Czech Republic; and Ankara, Turkey. In early November of 2025, Mills won gold and became the Junior Latin American Champion of 2025 in Mexico. In total, Mills has left the country eight times for ice skating competitions.

Mills had to skip three days of school when she was in Mexico for the Junior Latin American Championships in November. During this time, she had a World Civilizations history exam, which she took in her hotel lobby during some free time between performances and training.

“I set up my computer and my books and I was like, ‘Ok. Lock in,’” said Mills.

On December 6, 2025, she won first place in the women’s junior level of the Brazilian National Championship. Two days later, on Monday, Dec. 8, she flew back to Tennessee, arrived at Trevecca on Tuesday, Dec. 9th, and took her first exam the following morning, Wednesday, Dec. 10.

With her business in sports management degree, Mills is hoping to continue her journey in figure skating, whether that’s through coaching, managing, or educating. Mills said that being able to skate for Brazil while training in America has given her a unique perspective of skating knowledge that she hopes to bring to more Brazilian figure skaters in the future.

“Brazilian skating isn’t very advanced, and I’ve heard them say that the coaching there isn’t very good. I would love to help out. If they asked me to do anything, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Mills said.

Mills is often asked if she will one day pursue competing in the Olympics. Though that may have once been a dream of hers, Mills now wants to focus on the sport as a source of joy, challenge, and art.

“Being part of that group, on the other side, being in the locker rooms and stuff, and seeing those girls’ day to day lives and how they’re treated – I don’t know if I want to put up with all of that to go to the Olympics,” said Mills.