Winning Ways
Student-athletes are honored for outstanding academic achievement.

Being a successful student at Florida Tech means giving 110 percent. And that’s also what it takes to be an accomplished Panther athlete. So what does it take to excel at both?

Do the math and you’ll get the idea!

Yet despite the many challenges of maintaining academic excellence while embracing the discipline and rigors of a dedicated athlete, 13 Florida Tech student-athletes were named to the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Commissioner’s Honor Roll for spring 2003. To be eligible for the honor, students must be part of an SCC-accredited sport and post a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.2 on a scale of 4.0.

This is the second consecutive time Florida Tech business student Michelle White has been named to the honor roll. She’s been playing volleyball since childhood and college volleyball for four years.

White belongs to two national honor societies, Phi Eta Sigma and Delta Mu Delta and is a member of the Entrepreneurial Club on campus. To accommodate her busy lifestyle, White tries to schedule her classes early in the day so she’ll have time at night for study and schoolwork.

Her advice to other students looking to get into athletics? “Use your time wisely and don’t even think about having a really active social life during the season!”

“Don’t be afraid to fail,” is the motto of ocean engineering senior Heather McQuillen, an honor roll athlete and member of women’s crew since freshman year. McQuillen is certainly showing a fearless drive to make her mark. She’s won eight medals in her crew career and was named Oarswoman of the Year as a sophomore, but not without hard work and
dedication.

“I have never played a sport that required so much from me. You give your all from the start of the race until the end.”

McQuillen also applies her tremendous drive to her studies, working a 19-hour course load. She plans to get her master’s in coastal engineering and eventually her doctoral degree and feels that efficient time management is the key to achieving her goals.

Gerardo Valerio takes his soccer playing seriously. In fact, his teammates call him “Véron” a reference to his resemblance to Argentinian soccer star Juan Sebastian Véron.

Currently in his senior year as an accounting major, Valerio is looking at two options after graduation: playing professional soccer in his native country of Honduras or working in the U.S. for a year in the banking field—whichever opportunity presents itself first.

The ability to study on the bus while traveling to out-of-town matches keeps Valerio on top of his academic responsibilities. He claims he doesn’t have a system, per se, except to make sure all his assignments are turned in on time. In spite of frequent travel during the season, he says he maintains a good line of communication with his professors.

In her fourth year of playing college softball, Stacy Warren is a civil engineering major who plans to work for a year after graduation and then get her master’s degree in structural engineering.

Out of 319 students named to the SCC honor roll, Warren was one of only 45 with a perfect GPA of 4.0. It’s the second time she’s achieved that goal. Chapter president of Chi Epsilon, a civil engineering honor society, Warren also manages to work almost 20 hours a week as a structural intern at TLC Engineering for architecture in Cocoa.

A love of sports and the drive to succeed in all their endeavors seem to be the common traits among these outstanding Panthers. But perhaps the best insight comes from Warren:

“It doesn’t seem so demanding when you look forward to going to practice, seeing your friends, and doing something you love.”

Congratulations to all of our accomplished student-athletes!

Kathie Grant