Alumni Magazine - Summer 2008 - (Page 44) I N T E RV I E W As young women are making their decisions on where to go to school, they know that if you come to Tech not only will you get a great education but you’ll also have great coaching and a great opportunity to win championships. Since Coach [Bryan] Shelton’s arrival, he has certainly put women’s tennis on the map and I know as an alum he is tremendously proud to be able to accomplish that at his alma mater. to graduate before turning pro? It’s hard. They’re 18 to 22 years old. They think they all have the ability to turn professional in their individual sports, but the numbers just don’t bear it out. There are very few people who end up playing in the National Football League. If they do, their career is about 3.2 years. The NBA is even a smaller number. But while you’re here, while you’re waiting to have that opportunity to play professionally, take advantage of your time here, graduate or get real close to graduating and if you can, come back and finish, because the Tech degree is going to be with you for the remainder of your life. We want to make sure those opportunities are available for them to come back and finish their degrees. sports, in academics and in their personal lives? One of the great things we have here at Georgia Tech — and it’s a legacy of Dr. [Homer] Rice — is the Total Person Program, where we have outreach and systematic programming for student athletes to talk not only about their lives here at Georgia Tech but some of the things they need to do outside of Georgia Tech once they graduate or leave Georgia Tech. Preparing them for that particular stage in their lives is something the Total Person Program does. We have gone through about a year’s worth of revamping of the program to make sure that it’s relevant to today’s student athlete. Today’s student athlete is very different from the student athlete of 10 years ago. We want to make sure that the programs and the things that we’re doing for our student athletes are important for their life skills today. Is it true that tennis standout Kristi Miller graduated with a 4.0 in May and is turning pro? Yes, Kristi is an amazing young lady. She has set the benchmark and is the most decorated female student athlete in the history of our program. How do you convince athletes How do you encourage athletes to make good decisions in Are all student athletes required to go through the Total Person Program? Yes. How are the baseball players handling Michael Hutts’ 44 Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Summer 2008
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