All across Anchorage, high school seniors are signing letters-of-intent with college sports teams. It's a rite of spring for many of the city's most talented teenage athletes.
Then there's Shaai Ferguson, age 23 and a 2011 graduate of Service High. She recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Rochester Community and Technical College in Minnesota.
Ferguson, who will be a freshman for the Yellowjackets, took a long, circuitous path to her signing day last month – one that included a four-year stint in the Navy and the birth last year of her son, Elijah.
"I'm very blessed," Ferguson said. "I thought I wasn't going to be able to have a second chance, because I became a mom, and I let time go by because I'm in the military."
Ferguson's separation date from the Navy is May 31, at which point she will move to Byron, Minnesota, where she and fiancé Isaac Sveen recently bought a house not far from Rochester. A 5-foot-8 forward, Ferguson will be part of a team that was 16-10 last season, one victory away from making the National Junior College Athletic Association's Division III national tournament.
Ferguson was a first-team all-Cook Inlet Conference pick in basketball and a CIC sprinting champion for Service. She joined UAA's track team out of high school, but the demands of college classwork and athletics prompted her to quit track after one semester to concentrate on academics.
After a year at UAA, Ferguson joined the Navy. She's a plank owner for the USS America, an amphibious assault warship she helped commission. She spent two years on the ship.
"We went to Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, Peru," she said. "Most of the time we were at sea, doing exercises."
She joined one of the ship's male-dominated basketball teams and held her own. Daily pickup games helped toughen her and keep her skills sharp.
"When I was playing for the Navy team, it wasn't organized and the guys have big attitudes," Ferguson said. "They'd foul me hard and I'd fall really hard on the ground and they'd say, 'C'mon, you're playing a man's sport now.'
"So I had to learn how to control my temper more and learn how to be more aggressive. It's a different story playing against men. They're rough. If I get hit, I get hit. If I get hurt, I get hurt."
Five years after her final high school game, Ferguson said she's a stronger, better player now. "Way better than high school," she said.
Her relationship with Sveen proved critical. He's a bodybuilder who follows a diet and exercise regime that Ferguson has adopted, something that keeps her in shape and disciplined.
And he's the father of Elijah, who was born Sept. 24 in San Diego.
"Elijah definitely changed the direction of my path," Ferguson said. "Before I was like, 'I'm gonna re-enlist, I'm gonna do 20 years (in the Navy)."
But she didn't think a career in the Navy would be a good fit for a new mother. "You spend so much time out on the ocean," she said.
And so when she returned to Anchorage for her maternity leave, Ferguson started examining other paths she could follow. She started looking for colleges in Minnesota where she might have a chance to compete in track or basketball again.
When she emailed basketball coach Steve Hucke at Rochester Community and Technical College, Hucke answered quickly. He also checked film of Ferguson from her high school days.
"I told him, 'I have a child, but I'm in shape.' He wanted to meet me, (so) when I went back to Minnesota, I went to one of their games and a practice," Ferguson said.
"… When he told me I would be signing my letter of intent, I said, 'Are you serious?' He said, 'It doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter if you have a kid. If you want to play basketball, I'm gonna give you that opportunity.' ''
Ferguson, who will attend school on the GI bill, will be the oldest player on the team. The way she looks at it, she's also the most experienced.
"I've set my goals high," she said. "I want to be the best player on the team. Since I'm the oldest, I should be the most seasoned. I want to make first-team all-conference and score at least 20 points a game."
Ferguson still can't quite believe she's about to become a college basketball player at age 23. "I'm still shocked every day," she said.
And while she's confident she can achieve some of her goals, she said there's one aspect of her game that needs work before she can be a success at the college level.
"When I played basketball in the Navy I had a sailor's mouth, so every other word was a cuss word," Ferguson said. "So I'll have to fix that."