More Olympic Gold To Celebrate

I.                     

As is often the case with sticky issues, there are sides in which well-meaning and good people may disagree. And yet, when there are sides we feel we must choose. What follows are a few different responses to the most prestigious thing a person can be in a secondary school or a college campus in America: An athlete.

I have to state at the outset that I was a recruited athlete for my University. Were it not for my athletic talents I doubt I would ever have been accepted to my school. On the other hand, I was lucky enough to have some of the best teachers in the world. They changed my life. I went from being a relative academic slacker to someone who still loves earning. I credit those teachers with this and I will always be grateful.

I also learned a huge amount about how to live my life from my experience with Division I athletics. Time management was incredibly important and so was the necessity of getting along with others who came from backgrounds far different than mine. On the track and field team, I was one of the few white kids who ran sprints. So for at least 3 hours a day I hung around with people I would not have spent much time with otherwise. Self-segregation was and still is a significant problem on campuses across the land. I wish there were simple answers to those issues, but I do not have any to offer.

But I would not trade the time I spent in practice with Jimmy, and Kevin, and Karl and lots of others who came from schools where education was often lost among just trying to maintain order. That world was one I had never entered into.

I learned about laughter and teamwork and study groups and traveling on a limited budget to cheap hotel rooms around the country to compete. I was changed forever by this experience and will always be grateful for what my fellow athletes taught me. I wish more people would have this opportunity as some of these people worked ten times harder on and off the track or football field or pool than most of the students who walked the campus.

II.

On the other hand, there is an issue that I have raised in talking to groups across the country and that is the priorities we place on athletics over academics. Although I received a number of significant academic awards during my time at university, it was the athletic awards that got my picture in the paper and provided me with a scholarship. The pride we take in athletic achievement as a country is evident as the US collects medals in the Olympics. There is pride and a little swagger that comes from being on top of the world. But while we seem to dominate in many sports, it is true that the people who hold the future of the country in their hands are often not those who can run fast, throw a ball, or swim 6 hours a day. It is those who study with as much or more of the effort of those heroic athletes. What follows is an observation that I made at my daughter’s secondary school graduation.

III.

A few clouds scud by. I don’t know why they scud but that’s what they are supposed to do on idyllic days. And it is. 75 degrees. The trees still the lighter green of spring up this far north. The graduates are dressed for such an appropriate and solemn occasion, the women in virgin white, the men is blazers with school crests.

Earlier that day we had watched and cheered as the crew teams glided smoothly across the water, a scene not unlike the one in The Social Network during which the evil twins of the straight jaw and impossibly good looks lose.

We receive an exceptional graduation speech from a man who had made a great career, rising from investment banking at Goldman Sachs to becoming a business leader in Fortune Five Hundred companies,. But he gave it all up to begin anew as the head of Habitat for Humanity. A trip to India had changed him and he put forward the suggestion that changing the world might be better than angling for the biggest place in Greenwich at some future date. It was hard to know how this went over but in the beautiful chapel his crafted words stirred everyone. At least for a few minutes.

Then came the awarding of diplomas and awards. It was a lesson in demographics. The first set of awards was for academic performance. At least three quarters of the students receiving awards were Asian, most of them foreign nationals from Korea, Hong Kong, or China.  One particular student had so much hardware that she could barely walk off the stage. What interested me was the rather tepid applause from this mostly affluent crowd. I think, or I guess, that there is something that seems wrong to the mostly Non-Asian parents and students. Why are these imports taking all the top prizes and why are they getting into the best schools?

Luckily, perhaps, there is a second set of awards; these focus on sportsmanship, student leadership, and special talents in a variety of areas. The clapping was much louder and there was much more of the cool irony that comes with being a smart kid from a top school. Some of the young men had a gesture of cool upon receiving their diploma. After shaking the saint of a man who is leaving as headmaster they turned to the audience and brushed off their  left shoulder—you can’t touch this it seemed to say. I’d say, too cool for school?

IV.

The last entry is in Spanish. I will provide a translation soon. Sebastian was a superstar tennis player on a team that was frequently ranked number 1 in the country. But he was also a great student. He learned the challenges of balancing these huge responsibilities. And I guess that is what I would call for too. A louder sound of applause when our students receive medals in physics Olympiads (and I have met some of these students at my university), and a recognition that very few who pursue athletics in university can make a living at it later.

V.

Mi nombre es Santiago Villegas, soy un estudiante-atleta de cuarto año en la Universidad de Virginia (UVA). Siendo una de las mejores universidades académicamente, deportivamente y socialmente, UVA a sido una súper buena experiencia para mi.

Académicamente la escuela de negocios al igual que muchas otras carreras están entre las mejores del país, lo cual me facilito el proceso de aplicación a trabajar ya que muchas compañías vienen directamente a la Universidad interesadas en reclutar estudiantes. El trato  entre profesor y estudiante es muy directo, permitiendo a los alumnos y profesores establecer una relación. Por ejemplo, constantemente voy almorzar con un profesor de historia al cual he llegado a conocer fuera del salón de clase.

 Estar en el equipo de tennis de la universidad a sido una gran experiencia que me a permitido sentir directamente la pasión por el deporte que existe en UVA. Al igual que muchos otros estudiantes he estado en los partidos de futbol americano con mi camiseta naranja apoyando al equipo. Además, hay equipos deportivos y sociales de todo tipo, al haber una comunidad latina de estudiantes tenemos un grupo que se llama “Por una mejor Latinoamérica” en donde por medio de diferentes actividades sociales recolectamos apoyos económicos para un proyecto en Latinoamérica que uno de los integrantes propone al principio del año.

 Con una gran cantidad de estudiantes internacionales, UVA es un muy buen lugar para conocer personas de diferentes partes el mundo. Charlottesville es una ciudad llena de restaurantes y siempre hay algo para hacer. Algunas de mis actividades favoritas son: las fiestas Latinas en downtown, los conciertos de música clásica al aire libre y foxfields (La famosa carrera de caballos).

Ser un “Cavallier” o “Wahoo” como se le dice comúnmente a los estudiantes de la Universidad de Virginia es un orgullo y prestigio. Lest go Hoos!