Collegiate Times

"Our advisers stick to maybe one or two sports, so that's not a lot of people they have to deal with," Bowden said. "There's a lot more individual, one-on-one time to meet with them."

"That, right there is helpful enough, and then being able to come get a tutor whenever you need it is definitely helpful, too," he said.

While tutors and advisers work hard to help athletes while they're in Blacksburg, the life of a student athlete at Tech extends beyond the Southwestern corridor of Virginia.

In season, athletes are on the road just as much as they are at home.

Haskins said, "On the bus to and from games, it's up to you whether you want to open your books - or watch the movie on the bus."

"But, we also normally have study hall," she said. "If we play at seven o'clock, the next day we'll have study hall in the mornings for about an hour, and then you'll have other free time later in the day."

To say the least, sporadic study schedules that include having to pick schoolwork over movies, and the fact that student athletes must mentally and physically prepare for their competitions on the road, doesn't make things easy.

For some, it's just easier leaving their books behind and getting as much done as they can while they're at home.

"When we have a game, I like to relax and not really think about school," Bowden said. "If I have to get anything done, I'm doing it before I have to leave or after the game on Sunday or something."When it comes down to it, the balancing beam that is the life of a student athlete relies on making the right choices.

Tasmin Fanning, whose sister, Jessica, runs distance alongside her for Tech said, "My mom basically told us that if we wanted to succeed, and if we wanted to make choices ourselves in life, we'd have to have a good education."

"And that's what we did. We stuck with our studies, we were successful in high school, and that helped us get here."

Bowden said that family also has had a big effect on his study habits.

"I remember before I came here, my mom said she would rather me be an All-Academic ACC person than an all-athletic ACC person," Bowden said. "It feels good to make my parents proud and my friends proud."

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