College and athletics go hand in hand. There are people that like sports and how collegiate sports has evolved. On the other hand, there are people who think that too much emphasis is put on collegiate athletics.
As a teacher, I want my kids to realize that they have the ability to go to college. They need to know that every one of them can get a higher education. When you work in a school that's in a low-income area, a lot of those students don't realize or don't even think that they could go on to college after high school. I think that college athletics is extremely important because that's one of the best ways to hook kids into thinking and dreaming about going to college.
When I was in 5th grade, I became hooked on OSU basketball. I watched every single game, knew all the players, knew all their stats. That was in 1995 when OSU lost to UCLA in the Final Four. One day after a game, I went up to my mom and told her, "I am going to go to OSU for college."
That was the first time that I had really thought about going to college. College athletics planted a seed in me that I want to do that. It was more than the team doing well. It was watching the crowd during the game; seeing the student section supporting their school of choice. I wanted to be a part of that type of atmosphere.
From that moment on, I thought about OSU as my college. I knew that there would be education beyond high school because I was going to reach for it.
That is one thing that I love about college athletics. Young children fall in love with a team and then dream about going there for college. Without it (or even if college athletics was at a smaller scale), not as many children would think about possibly going to college.
It made college a goal of mine at an early age and it continues to do so for each generation!!
