Photo courtesy of www.wcupagoldenrams.com.
“Success on the field; prepared off the field,” stated a tweet by the University of Texas’s Football team’s official Twitter. It boasted of the “highest semester GPA in team history,” which was a 2.89. While this is obviously an accomplishment for the university, I saw many Twitter users making fun of how low they thought this score was and how student athletes are only in school for the games they play. This made me wonder about the lives of student athletes, the stereotype that they are not the brightest students in school and how that pertains to West Chester University’s student athletes.
Universities like to boast about their athletes’ performances in the classroom, with the intention of showing that they value their students’ academics above all else. But in his book “The John Carlos Story,” John Carlos, Olympic athlete and activist, says student athletes should be called “athlete students” because sports comes first for them in college. This is an unethical way for a university to treat students and their identity. It tells student athletes that they are worth little more than their performance on the field, and that could hurt their sense of self. Although it was true for Carlos, I wonder about how that statement holds up when it comes to our university. After some research into West Chester University’s athletics, my question has been answered.
WCU’s student athletes prove to perform well in the classroom. According to the official website of West Chester University Athletics, in the Fall of 2018 the cumulative GPA of student athletes was 3.29. 71% of student athletes had a GPA of 3.0 or better, and 406 students were on the AD Honor Roll. Clearly, this is a big difference from University of Texas’ 2.89. In fact, West Chester’s highest-scoring athletic team in terms of academics is the women’s gymnastics team, which has a cumulative GPA of 3.72 in the fall of 2018.
Last semester, WCU’s field hockey team finished with a cumulative GPA of 3.6. I spoke to Caitlin Kelly, one of West Chester University’s finest field hockey players. “It can be very difficult at times when we have many games in one week and come home exhausted,” says Kelly. Although their weeks may be full of athletics, Kelly also told me she does believe this university is supportive of her and her fellow athletes’ academic careers. According to Kelly, there are many guidelines and practices that the university has for their student athletes in order to keep their grades up. For one, every team is required to spend time in a study hall for a few hours a week. “Our team has study hall twice a week,” states Kelly. “Every Sunday for two hours and then one week night for two hours.” Additionally, while freshman students always have to go both nights during the week, upperclassmen can choose one day to attend, provided they have a GPA of 3.3 or higher. Kelly thinks this opportunity of more free time is “a nice incentive for us to raise our GPAs.”
Students at WCU have a strong academic drive that is supported by the university. In Kelly’s experience, “we put school first and field hockey second,” which is clearly supported by West Chester’s requirements and incentives to keep their grades up. According to Kelly, if your grade point average drops below a 2.0, you are unable to continue competing.
After speaking to Kelly about her experience as a student athlete at West Chester University and looking into the actual numbers, I am convinced that WCU combats the idea that student athletes are only worth their actions during game time. WCU is a university that encourages classroom excellence in its students athletes. In response, those students have proven their worth as equally powerful on and off the field.
Hannah Barras is a third-year student majoring in communications. HB888984@wcupa.edu