{"id":11274,"date":"2024-08-23T09:07:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T14:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=11274"},"modified":"2024-08-23T09:07:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T14:07:53","slug":"uw-milwaukee-athletes-winning-in-the-classroom-too","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-milwaukee-athletes-winning-in-the-classroom-too\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Milwaukee athletes winning in the classroom too"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
UWM tennis player Giorgia Cavestro, who is majoring in IT management and accounting, was honored as one of the top undergraduate students in the Lubar College of Business. She helped the team win the Horizon League\u2019s Raise Your Sights award for 2023-2024, an honor given to the conference\u2019s top athletic teams in academics, based on combined grade point average. (Milwaukee Athletics photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UW-Milwaukee student athletes excel even when they\u2019re not competing.<\/p>\n

The UWM women\u2019s tennis team recently received the\u00a0Horizon League\u2019s Raise Your Sights award<\/a>\u00a0for 2023-2024, an honor given to the top academic women\u2019s and men\u2019s teams based on combined grade point average for the academic year. The women\u2019s tennis team led the league with a GPA of 3.857. (Green Bay men\u2019s golf was the top men\u2019s team with a 3.8 GPA.)<\/p>\n

While the tennis team took top honors, athletes from other sports are also competitive academically. In the spring semester of 2024, 105 UWM student athletes posted a GPA of 3.8 or higher, according to Amanda Braun, UWM director of athletics.<\/p>\n

Helping these athletes balance demanding sports competitions with academics is a team effort, involving coaches, advisors, campus resources and hard-working students.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Sara Simonova, a junior political science and international studies major from the Czech Republic, says that teammates are helpful with academics too. \u201cWe support each other, and UWM is so helpful.\u201d (Milwaukee Athletics photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of leaders on our team, a really mature team,\u201d said Mark Goldin, who took over as head women\u2019s tennis coach this year. \u201cWhat I can do as a coach is make clear what my priorities are for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

First is mental health, then schoolwork and community, and then tennis, he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a reason they\u2019re called student athletes, putting the student before the athlete. If you do your job as a coach of prioritizing the first three, you allow your students to maximize their abilities on the tennis court,\u201d Goldin said.<\/p>\n

UWM team coaches have \u201cawesome resources\u201d to help support student athletes, he added.<\/p>\n

The Athletics Department has a team of three advisors who work with students and faculty to help them balance academics with athletic competitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is really to help our students be students while also being an athlete,\u201d said Clare Faurote, associate athletic director of academic services.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
David Cox, a soccer player now in graduate school, appreciates the academic support that athletes get. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in season, you don\u2019t have lot of free time, especially if you\u2019re on the road.\u201d (Milwaukee Athletics photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur work with them really starts when they\u2019re recruited,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen the coaches bring them to campus, we meet and discuss the academic side of things. Right now, we\u2019re working with athletes who are starting this fall who are on campus for orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the academic year, students meet weekly or bi-weekly with the advisors as well as with their major advisors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transition from high school to college is challenging for any student so we have these freshman meetings to make a good foundation,\u201d Faurote said. First year students also take a one-semester course, Educational Psychology 102, that teaches them time management and study skills. Advisors can also introduce them to tutoring and other campus academic support resources as needed.<\/p>\n

Giorgia Cavestro<\/a>, one of the tennis team members chose UWM because of the culture that focused on academics. \u201cI knew the environment I was joining was that school comes first so I try to do my best in the classroom, as well as on the court, obviously,\u201d said Cavestro, who came to UWM from Italy.<\/p>\n

The tennis team members support each other. \u201cAll eight girls on the team have the same mindset, so that makes it easier for us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe study together, we help each other when needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cavestro, a senior, is majoring in IT management and accounting and was honored as one of the Lubar 25. That is an annual program that recognizes 25 undergraduate students in the Lubar College of Business who stand out for their accomplishments in academics, entrepreneurship, leadership or campus\/community service.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Nadiia Konieva says that UWM advisors help athletes balance their athletic and academic priorities. \u201cIt\u2019s hard, especially if you have to travel and you have a class, but you can always talk to the professor and figure out how to do it,\u201d she said. (Milwaukee Athletics photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cClare does a really good job of helping us manage our schedules,\u201d said David Cox, a soccer player now in graduate school. He majored in political science and English with a minor in communication. \u00a0\u201cWhen you\u2019re in season, you don\u2019t have lot of free time, especially if you\u2019re on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like all the athletes, he received a letter from the athletics advisors to share with his professors, letting them know of sports competitions and travel schedules. That helped make the process of balancing academics and sports easier. \u201cI think the whole athletic academic staff does a really good job,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Good grades are important to her future career in psychology, said\u00a0Nadiia Konieva<\/a>, a junior who came to the team from Ukraine as a freshman. The advisors can help athletes organize their schedules around meets, work with faculty to make sure students arrange to complete exams and important papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard, especially if you have to travel and you have a class, but you can always talk to the professor and figure out how to do it,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of it is self-motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMental toughness is part of being an athlete,\u201d said\u00a0Sara Simonova<\/a>, a junior political science and international studies major from the Czech Republic, adding the support of her teammates and the university have helped her focus on her studies. \u201cWe support each other, and UWM is so helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Kathy Quirk<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-athletes-winning-in-the-classroom-too\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UW-Milwaukee student athletes excel even when they\u2019re not competing. The UWM women\u2019s tennis team recently received the\u00a0Horizon League\u2019s Raise Your Sights award\u00a0for 2023-2024, an honor given to the top academic women\u2019s and men\u2019s teams based on combined grade point average for the academic year. The women\u2019s tennis team led the league with a GPA of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":11276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[107],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-11274","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-milwaukee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/11274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=11274"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=11274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}