It's been an eventful spring for Amanda Hubbard. On May 12, she graduated with her bachelor of nursing degree from Kennesaw State University. She landed a job with Phoenix Children's Hospital, where she hopes to eventually work with young cancer patients. And, at the USA Weightlifting Collegiate Nationals in Indiana, she carried home the Best Female Lifter trophy.

Before reporting for work in Arizona this month, she'll have graduated with a second degree in health sciences from Kennesaw State and competed in the University World Championships in Turkey, along with six other top American women weightlifters. If she can make the Senior World Team, she might have a crack at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

"Working 12-hour shifts in the hospital may be a challenge on my future job, but handling multiple tasks won't be," Hubbard said. "The one thing I've learned from going to school and being dedicated to a sport is time management."

Hubbard, 23, has also learned how to make sacrifices.

"Getting through nursing school was one of the most difficult things I've done, but I learned a lot, and the persistence I learned in the gym paid off," she said.

"You're willing to give up some things when you know what's important to you. I'm looking forward to being a nurse."

Hubbard ran track and had been a cheerleader in high school but let sports lapse as she pursued a degree in health sciences at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton. When she transferred to Kennesaw State University to study nursing, she didn't know anyone and wanted to do something athletic in her spare time. One of her health science professors, Mitchell Collins, who had done some weightlifting, suggested she try Coffee's Gym in Marietta.

"I was clueless when I walked in and met John Coffee, who has trained other Olympic athletes, but he saw how flexible I was and that I had potential," she said.

At five feet and 128 pounds of muscle, Hubbard has the strong, compact body of a weightlifter.

"Amanda is exceptional and really special to have come as far as she has in three years," Coffee said. "A lot of weightlifters start when they're 9 or 10. I knew the first day that she was talented, but you can't measure a person's heart on the first day. She's tough and willing to pay the price."

While going to school, Hubbard trained two to three hours a day, five days a week, in between classes and clinical rotations.

"I have a natural God-given talent, but it takes focus and dedication to develop it," she said. "People will try weightlifting but then give up when they get some aches and pains, because the training is so difficult."

Coffee always encouraged Hubbard but never gave her false hopes about what she could achieve. "You haven't done it until the weight's overhead and you stand up, and in competition, you're attempting weights you've never done before," Hubbard said.

At the U.S. collegiate meet she set three records: snatch at 81 kilograms (178.2 pounds); clean and jerk at 98 kilograms (215.6 pounds); and overall total at 179 kilograms (393.8 pounds).

With scores from the international competition in Turkey and the senior Weightlifting National Championships in August, Hubbard hopes to secure a place on the Senior World Team, which consists of the top seven women lifters in the world and might give her an Olympic slot in 2008.

Hubbard hates to say goodbye to the coach who has taught her so much and who will accompany her to Turkey. She plans to continue lifting as a nurse and has found a trainer near her new job in Phoenix.

"Women seem to get stronger as they age, so there's no reason why she can't keep lifting into her mid-30s if she wants," Coffee said.

"I try not to get so wrapped up in all the logistics but just to concentrate on each practice, each competition. I'm following John's direction to always look forward, never back," Hubbard said.