De’Ronzy Lawrence
Sports Editor
Finding a way to manage schoolwork and a personal life is a struggle for every college student. Add the physical commitment of being an athlete combined with the mental fatigue of class work, and that creates what we like to call, the student athlete.
Being a student athlete at any school level is tough, but more so in college. Maintaining a sufficient GPA score while keeping your body in top shape to perform well, can result in the demise of most students. Although, here at Broward College, things are very different.
During the 2017-18 school year, 46 student athletes were named to the Florida All-Academic team.
The Academic All-American program was established in 1952. The purpose of this program was to honor and provide recognition to athletes who have achieved and maintained amazing academic feats.
Some famous pro-athletes who were honored with such a reward are current Minnesota Lynx star guard Maya Moore, current Super Bowl winning quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, Carson Wentz and multi-Olympic gold medal swimmer Katie Ledecky.
In order to achieve this accomplishment, student athletes are required to have a minimum of 18 achieved credit hours and an overall GPA of 3.3 or better. Standards as tough as those are difficult for one student to achieve; Broward College produced 46 of them, while still performing well in their individual sports.
“It is a true testament to our student athletes and our staff. It starts with our student athletes, and their ability to transition from the cultures of their programs to committing to academic success,” said Broward College Athletic Director Bob Duestchman.
Broward College has multiple academic resource services catering to each student. As a result, the services aid them while increasing the odds of success in the classroom. Academic specialist, Brian Jones, helps with creating these avenues for students to keep them on the right track.
“We have an academic specialist that was assigned to us named Brian Jones. He does an amazing job and works extremely hard. He has helped in establishing a great partnership with our academic resource centers that provide a great deal of support for our students,” said Duestchman.
Duestchman and his staff have created a culture where Broward College student athletes understand that the classroom is just as important as their sports. The staff preaches academic excellence and the students believe in the vision.
“If I say I was proud of the result, it would imply that I had something to do with it. The students deserve all the credit. I am proud of them, as in the staff and all the support we receive from the college. I am just thankful for the partnership. I am prideful because of the students, and thankful for the college,” said Duestchmen.
Regardless, this accomplishment is extremely impressive and Duestchman deserves much praise for the culture he has created. The staff seems to have adopted the same vision and dream. The 46 student athletes named to the Academic All-American team is their dream manifesting into realtiy.
lawrd6@mail.broward.edu
Caption: Gerti Bineva.
Photo Courtesy: The Athletic Department