Every year the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) recognizes those students who are able to cope with the pressures of school and achieve a grade point average of 3.4 or higher. This is the CCAA All Academic award and last year 46 Stan State athletes received this prestigious award
These student athletes went above and beyond the struggles of balancing a hefty workload. doing everything from practice and team meetings to midterms and homework, their average school day is enough to stress out even the most diligent of students.
For Jordan Moineau (senior, Nursing), the hardest part of being a collegiate athlete is the traveling. While on the road, athletes have time to study but there is so much going on around them it is hard to fully concentrate on homework. “I have a checklist, I do this all the time, I just put my homework down and get all that done, and then I make time for friends,” Moineau said.
It isn’t easy work being a collegiate athlete. They put so much time into being great on the field, that it is difficult to be just as talented off the field.
Sleep was a major component in Mikayla Clifford’s (junior, Nursing) schedule.  Clifford said, “You need enough sleep as an athlete, to perform well. So that’s probably the hardest part is staying up late to finish something.”
Many of the athletes spoke of time management as a major focus. As a full time student alone it is difficult to manage all the different assignments and projects given to us. Athletes must manage to go to practice every day and find the time to do school work.
Chelsea Lewandowski (senior, Psychology) said, “I think the most difficult thing is time management. You really have to know when to schedule your classes around your practices and maybe even your weight training.”
Her teammate, Sabrina Williamson (senior, Biology) would agree with her. “I don’t have too much of a social life, but that’s okay because there are others that are in the same situation as me,” Williamson said. “Just making sure I’m organized and getting my homework done, making sure I get enough sleep, enough food, making sure I’m prepared for the next day, for practice, for traveling. That’s probably the hardest part, but it’s doable.”
If you would like to see the full list of all 46 athletes who earned the CCAA All Academic Award, you can visit http://www.warriorathletics.com under the Awards column.