Destiny Adams has spent her time at San Joaquin Delta College doing far more than representing one team. Over five semesters, she has competed in four sports, water polo, swimming, diving, and women’s basketball, while building the kind of college career that already stood out on its own.
Now, that journey has taken on another layer of meaning after Adams was named one of the April 2026 recipients of the CalHOPE Courage Award, an honor that recognizes California college athletes who have overcome stress, anxiety, and mental trauma tied to hardship and adversity.
Each monthly honoree is also recognized with a donation made in their name to support mental health services.
For Adams, the award is tied to something much deeper than athletic versatility. In 2023, she lost her best friend and teammate, Kayla Crespin, in a car crash, a loss that changed the shape of her college life.
Crespin, a Delta College water polo player, lost her life after a crash in Stockton in late October 2023, and the grief that followed left Adams trying to find her footing in a world that no longer felt familiar.
Adams described that pain in deeply personal terms, saying she and Kayla had been “basically attached at the hip” through high school and into college.
After the loss, she said there were days when she did not feel like herself, when motivation dropped, and when even the things she normally loved felt difficult to get through. She admitted there were times it was hard just to show up and be present.
What kept her moving was not some instant breakthrough. It was the slower, harder process of staying close to her team, her coaches, and the people who refused to let her drift away.
Adams said, “They showed up for me in ways that I didn’t even know were possible.”
That support became the difference between isolating herself and slowly finding her footing again.
Support, patience, and a way forward
The CalHOPE Courage Award page points to that same support system as a major part of her story. It notes that Adams leaned on teammates, coaches, and campus mental health resources while working through grief, anxiety, and trauma after Kayla’s death.
In the award announcement, Adams said, “The support I received through Delta’s mental health services truly changed everything for me.”
She added that the help gave her a safe place to process grief and reminded her that she did not have to carry everything alone.
That message lines up closely with the way Adams described her healing in her own words.
She said one of the biggest lessons was learning to take life day by day instead of forcing herself to have everything figured out at once.
She stopped trying to rush the process and instead held onto routine, going to practice, being around friends, and staying connected to her teams. In time, that routine helped her start to feel grounded again.
She also spoke about patience, not only with herself but with the people around her, even in moments when she felt uncomfortable. That kind of honesty is a big reason this award fits.
The CalHOPE Courage Award is not built around stats or highlight plays. It honors student-athletes who keep going through the mental and emotional weight of hardship, and Adams’ story fits that mission with unusual clarity.
Her athletic background makes the recognition even stronger. Delta describes Adams as a multi-sport athlete competing for one of the top junior-college athletic programs in the state, including a women’s basketball team that won the program’s first-ever 3C2A State Championship and finished as the No. 1-ranked team in Northern California.
That means she was not only processing grief, but doing it while continuing to perform in one of the most demanding roles any student-athlete can take on, being present for multiple teams across multiple seasons.
What comes through most clearly in Adams’ story is that healing did not erase the loss.
It simply gave her a way to move with it. She said she wanted to keep growing and succeeding because she knew those were the things Kayla would want for her, and also the kinds of things Kayla would have been achieving herself. That thought became part of her reason to keep going.
Near the end of her remarks, Adams put the lesson into words that feel bigger than one campus or one award.
“Healing isn’t something that’s a straight line,” she said, before adding that some days will be harder than others, but it is still possible to move forward, grow, succeed, and accomplish amazing things.
That is what this award ultimately recognizes. Destiny Adams is not being honored only because she endured something painful.
She is being honored because she kept showing up through it, accepted help when she needed it, and turned that process into something that can speak to other athletes facing their own hardest moments.
For San Joaquin Delta College, the award is another point of pride. For Adams, it is something more personal, proof that courage does not always look loud, and that sometimes it begins with simply deciding to stay present one day at a time.
