Attempting to be the best of the best does not come easy. There is a lot of work involved and those who commit have to be in it for the long haul. When William Heikkinen was in high school his talent for football began to shine. Obviously the kid had talent but that talent needed to be honed with lots of practice in order to become something special. When some of the Northeast-10 talent scouts started to take notice, Heikkinen realized he needed to step up his academic game, too if he were going to make it into an Ivy League college. By the time he graduated from Andover High School, William Heikkinen had reached a number of impressive goals:
- Honor Roll
- Lettered in football all three years
- Lettered in track and field
- He broke two school records by accumulating 126 catches and 1,960 receiving yards.
- He made 22 touchdowns during his high school football career.
- He had seven career interceptions on defense.
- The Boston Herald and The Boston Globe named Heikkinen First Team All-State in his senior year after recording 72 catches for 1,175 yards and 9 touchdowns.
- Was selected to the All-Merrimack Valley Conference
- Winner of the Chemistry and Survey of Film Underclassmen awards
Even though William received interest from several Ivy League schools including Princeton and Harvard, he chose to commit to Brown University. One reason is the history between Andover High School and Brown University. Many of the high school’s football players went on to play for the Brown Bears after graduation: Paul and Buddy Farnham, James Perry, Bobby, Mark, Bill O’Brien, Brendan and Neil Finneran, and Andy Coke. Heikkinen added his name to the list in January 2013.
Brown University is no walk in the park. The competition just to get into the school is pretty stiff. Out of 30,431 applicants only 2,660 made it into the school. That is a mere 8.7%. The school’s academic officers and faculty ensure that all athletes meet the core educational goals even while participating in athletic competition. So not only is Brown a great school academically, the athletic department is an important part of the school. Brown has an array of varsity teams – 17 for men and 21 for women. The university has the largest athletic program for women in the US. The football team, the Brown Bears competes in the Ivy League and against other NCAA Division I level colleges.