From Carnegie Mellon University Public Relations
It takes a strong mind and body to excel on and off the field.
Link to Story on Carnegie Mellon Web Site
Seventy-eight student-athletes at Carnegie Mellon University showed
they were up to the task by earning 4.0 grade-point averages this
fall semester along with strong competitive showings in their
respective sports.
CMU President Subra Suresh, who was a high school cricket player,
has said student-athletes represent the university in many ways and
he admires them for all that they do.
"Athletic excellence combined with academic excellence, very
rigorous physical training combined with very rigorous academic
training; I think that's pretty remarkable," he said.
Among the students who had a perfect semester are 12
upperclassmen with cumulative 4.0s, including women’s cross
country and track and field senior Sara Kelly (E'15).
"Being an athlete, and specifically a runner, has helped me to
excel in school," Kelly said. "There is a very obvious correlation
in running between working hard and getting good results. If I
don't run all summer and work hard in workouts, I'm not going to do
particularly well in races."
"I've learned from running that that's the best way to approach
school. There are always shortcuts you can take in classes, but in
the long run just working hard and getting the job done will
produce the best results," she said.
Several of the teams had outstanding GPAs for the fall. The men's tennis team had a 3.64 team GPA. The women's soccer team, which ranked as high as No. 4 nationally during the season, had a 3.49 team GPA. The men's soccer team had a 3.45 GPA and the women's swimming and diving team had a 3.44 team mark.
Carnegie Mellon's men's golf team had a 3.70 cumulative GPA during the 2013–14 academic year, which was the highest Division III team mark in the country. It finished the fall semester with a cumulative GPA of 3.51, including four with a 4.0. The season marked the final one for Men's Golf Coach Richard Erdelyi. The team won the CMU Fall Invitational under Head Coach Nick Dunn and will resume play in March.
Justin Fischler (TPR'15), a senior captain on the men's golf
team, said that all 12 members of the golf team had to succeed for
the team to meet such high academic standards.
"It is something we can all be proud of. I also think it should
help out the team in the future, particularly with the recruiting
process."
The performance of Carnegie Mellon's student-athletes in the
classroom has been a significant point of pride for the community.
A year ago, 70 student-athletes finished the fall semester with 4.0
GPAs. Fifty-eight were perfect in the classroom during the spring
semester.
Fischler and Kelly said that faculty and coaches are both
supportive of athletes.
"Coaches fully understand that we are students first and athletes
second. This leads to them being very understanding if we need to
miss a practice every now and then for academic reasons," Fischler
said. "Professors, for the most part, are understanding as well. I
personally really enjoyed it when a professor after a tournament
asked about how we did, as it showed they cared."
A member of the University Athletic Association, CMU has 18
intercollegiate teams. Like all Division III schools, athletic
scholarships are prohibited, so students compete for the joy of the
game. The students study in a wide variety of undergraduate
programs that represent the entire university.
"Among CMU's athletes are future engineers, computer scientists and
doctors. We have the next generation of business leaders,
architects, writers and educators," said Director of Athletics Josh
Centor. "I have always believed that the future leaders of our
country are learning on the fields and in the classrooms of
Carnegie Mellon University, and these students represent that
current and future greatness."
Eric Grotzinger, CMU's NCAA faculty athletics representative and
associate dean for undergraduate affairs in the Mellon College of
Science, said CMU student-athletes have found such significant
success in academic and athletic realms.
"Our student-athletes are masters at being able to manage time,"
Grotzinger said. "The healthy habits they are developing here will
be useful throughout their lives to help them be productive,
successful and most importantly, happy individuals."