"Student" Not Forgotten In Student-Athlete

If you ever walk through Schuldes Sports Center, you will see many trophy cases and banners displaying the great athletes and teams that have been a part of the St. Norbert culture since its conception. What is probably more impressive than the banners and national champions is how many people are recognized on the walls in the hallways outside the coaches' offices and locker rooms for their athletic and academic excellence. These many athletes are honored for their high academic standing along with high athletic achievements. The amount of student-athletes displayed on this wall is attributed to the rich tradition St. Norbert College has had with its academics in athletics.Student-athletes who choose to attend St. Norbert College originally have many different schools recruiting them to be part of their athletic programs. SNC lands a lot of these outstanding student athletes, because they know of this institution's great academic standing. All student athletes attend SNC for its national academic recognition, not just athletic recognition.

Student athletes are some of the hardest working students on campus. When recruiting a potential athlete, SNC head hockey coach Tim Coghlin looks at how the student will perform in the classroom as much as on the ice. "Our best students have always been our best athletes. Including this year, our past two graduating classes have a combined 3.45 GPA, and all won an NCAA title in 2008. The kinds of recruits we pursue for our program want the best in academics as well as athletics."

Student athletes at SNC are forced to be very good at managing their time. Time management is a key to any student athlete succeeding in their sport and in the classroom. When their sport is in full swing a student athlete's day is normally planned from the moment they wake up. From the football team having 6 a.m. lifts to the track team having to run sprints before class, every student athlete has a lot of responsibility.

All-American and 2009 indoor national 800-meter track champion Ashley Graybill '09 knows being a student athlete is not a walk in the park. "Time management has been a huge part of being an athlete for me at SNC. When you have to wake up at 6 a.m. for practice and then attend class and sometimes work out after class, it is important to stay focused and manage your time wisely," she says.

When you are not staying busy competing in athletics or maintaining a part time job, you are more apt to get lazy and put off homework and study time because of lack of motivation. When you have to focus on doing your homework and studying ahead of time due to athletic competition, you are in essence a better student because of your athletics.

Graybill feels this is true and has proven very crucial to maintaining her 3.62 GPA. "My freshman and sophomore year I did not do cross-country in the fall semester so I had a lot of free time. Without a fall sport I found a lot of distractions and never got the grades I would achieve in the winter and spring semester while competing in track. Athletics forced me to focus more on everything and really helped me as much in the classroom as it did on the track."

St. Norbert College has had many athletes and teams in the 2008-09 seasons achieve all-academic excellence in their respected sport. The United States Track and Cross Country Coaches Association named the women's cross-country team of 2008 an All-Academic team. They excelled on and off the course by maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.44. Besides this national recognition, between the Midwest Conference (MWC) and National Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) conference, many SNC athletes have been honored as academic all-conference athletes.

In the fall and winter sports, SNC had a total of 78 athletes honored on the all-academic teams. The spring '09 lists are currently not available since the sports are in full swing, but last year there were 33 athletes honored in their respected sports. That is a total of 111 athletes who were honored for their academic excellence in their sports. Since there are roughly 380 student athletes at St. Norbert College, that means 1 in every 3.4 student athletes at SNC are honored for their academic excellence.

Athletic director Tim Bald feels this is a great achievement for SNC athletics and shows athletes here care about their classroom achievements. "Those numbers show you how athletes are a direct reflection of the student body. In fact, athletes are almost a mirror image GPA wise of normal students attending SNC. Lots of times when student-athletes are in season they utilize their time wisely and maintain a higher academic standing than most of the student body."

Having to maintain the required 2.0 grade point average to stay eligible is believed by most students as an achievable benchmark. This is a national benchmark for all athletes, not just SNC athletes.

At SNC it is not just a benchmark for athletes, but most students must maintain a 2.0 GPA in their major to earn a degree. This is not seen as allowing athletes a pass, but actually holding them to the same standard as every student on campus. Most often athletes are held to higher standards by their coaching staffs and must continue to manage their time in such a way to represent St. Norbert College, not only on the field but in the classroom as well.

With the continued success of St. Norbert College in its staggering 69 conference championships since joining the Midwest Conference in 1983 to its ten NCHA titles in only 15 years of competing, SNC should be proud of how well their student athletes have represented their college. Not only have the athletic programs built a solid foundation of excellence, the academic programs have continued to achieve national recognition. That is a testament to the college's ability to recruit great student athletes who will represent the campus in all aspects of their lives.