 "Photo: Sholten Singer | The Parthenon")
Being in college is hard enough, but one student manages to juggle many tasks and excels.
Elizabeth Fleming of South Bend, Ind. has managed to maintain her Yeager Scholarship and a position on the Marshall University volleyball team.
Fleming is a junior international affairs major with a double minor in French and philosophy.
She said when deciding where she wanted to attended college, she made her first priority apparent.
“I told my coach, academics is very important to me,” Fleming said. “He told me about the Yeager Scholarship.”
Fleming applied for the Yeager Scholarship, leaving a volleyball scholarship open for another member on the team.
She is the setter for the volleyball team and has received national recognition. She has been the recipient of four C-USA Player of the Week awards, C-USA Freshman of the Year, ESPN The Magazine’s 2008 Academic All-District II second team recipient, C-USA All-Academic Team member and a two-time recipient of the C-USA Setter of the week award, to name a few.
Mitch Jacobs, head Marshall University volleyball coach, said Fleming is a very talented athlete
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“She is probably our most physically gifted player,” Jacobs said. “The setter position is extremely demanding. It is kind of like the quarterbacks position in football.”
Jacobs said Fleming’s character is impeccable.
“I would say one of Liz’s biggest faults is the fact she is always unselfish,” Jacobs said. “As a setter, your teammates look at you to make the decision.”
Fleming said the volleyball team is very close.
“We have both a group of people to push you to the limits and a group that is there for you off the court,” Fleming said. “I really like that.”
She said managing her academics, requirements for the Yeager Scholarship and volleyball hasn’t always been easy.
“It has definitely been very challenging, but that is what I wanted when I came to Marshall,” Fleming said. “I have a lot of work to do for volleyball and academics, but there is time to do it. I have had time to come close to mastering this, but I am still working on it.”
Jacobs said he is amazed by her ability to juggle volleyball and school.
“I know what is takes to just stay eligible, let alone be as successful as she is,” Jacobs said. “She is dedicated to what she does. She makes sure her priorities are set and she follows them.”
Jacobs said there is nothing Fleming doesn’t think about.
“She wants to be in foreign service,” Jacobs said. “She wants to be in politics. She is extremely mature with her decision making.”
Fleming said she would like to study abroad next summer.
“I would like to study French in France,” Fleming said. “If not, another French speaking country.”
Jacobs said she is within a group that accepts priorities are necessary.
“We take school first, then we take volleyball,” Jacobs said. “What they can figure out after that is their college life.”
Katie Fowler can be contacted at fowler61@marshall.edu.
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