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Galo Pesantes
Editor in Chief
To honor student-athletes and their academic achievements, the University of La Verne athletic department hosted a roomful of scholar athletes on April 23. The event gave certificates of distinction to more than 70 athletes in the 19 different intercollegiate sports on campus.
I was fortunate to be one of those honored athletes along with six other of my teammates on the football team this past season. Athletic Director Chris Ragsdale and everyone in athletics did a commendable job in putting on the event for the fourth time by bringing athletes together and inviting faculty members that have been instrumental in each student-athlete’s life.
Speaking of instrumental faculty members, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Elizabeth Zwerling, associate professor of journalism, for accompanying me to this event.
It certainly is difficult to play a competitive sport and be a student at the same time, especially when you’re in college. Ragsdale shared how much dedication and willingness to succeed that many of these student-athletes exhibited this year. Among his several statistics were a combined 3.0 grade point average for all 325 student-athletes that participated in the current school year. Of that number, more than half had a GPA higher than 3.0 with another 27 percent having a GPA of more than 3.50.
I was also astonished to hear that 15 percent of student-athletes at ULV have double majors and a startling 70 percent of student-athletes hold jobs. Another 15 percent of student-athletes engage in more than one sport during the year, in which they contribute even more than they have in one season of play.
Playing sports is difficult in itself but the student-athletes at La Verne should certainly be credited for their dedication to their school, teams and academics. On a personal level, I can attest to how hard some of us work.
You will not believe how many times you get home from practice and you have to start your homework right away. Many of us sacrifice lots of things in order to play the games we love. Whether it is not going out the night before an exam or spending more time on a class project or finding any spare time to study for classes between practices and games.
With this many of us have been able to get better grades and GPAs than others who are non-athletes. For that, we are considered not only student-athletes but responsible leaders at our University. The reason student comes before athlete is because education is first on our minds. That holds the same for me and several others that I know. Playing Division III athletics is fun and competitive, but when it’s over, all you have left is your education. However, there are the many lessons learned through competition that are applied in your life after college athletics. In my case, as I referenced in a column I wrote last semester, it was all about perseverance and dedicating myself to becoming the best player I could possibly be. This included spending extra time trying to get stronger, faster and quicker in preparation for the season.
Refining techniques and skills were also a major focus of mine and others when trying to get ready. Like me, hundreds of ULV student-athletes will take lessons from training, competing and practicing countless hours into their own lives.
In closing, I want to say my own congratulations to my other fellow student-athletes. Most of us play to represent our school and compete in the sport that we have grown to love. I am confident that nearly all of us will use the things learned in the classroom as well as in our respective sports to be successful in the future.
Galo Pesantes, a senior journalism major, is editor in chief of the Campus Times. He can be reached by e-mail at gpesantes@ulv.edu. |
