North Carolina State University Athletics
Balanced, and Accomplished
4/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
April 8, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. – When NC State women’s basketball player Marissa Kastanek first arrived on campus, she received a great stress-relieving tip from teammate Tia Bell. Bell told Kastanek, in order to keep her life balanced, to divide her life into an equilateral triangle of sports, school and social activities. As long as they were all equal, managing the everyday stress of being a college athlete would be easier to handle.
So Kastanek, the featured student speaker at Thursday night’s annual Caterpillar Scholar-Athlete Banquet at the Holiday Inn Brownstone Hotel on Hillsborough Street, shared Bell’s advice with more than 250 fellow student-athletes attending the banquet, which honored all Wolfpack athletes with a 3.0 or better grade-point average. A total of 370 student-athletes were eligible to attend, though some were on the road competing or have already graduated.
“[Tia] told me the best way not get stressed out and to have the best college career possible is to keep all three sides of that triangle equal,” Kastanek said. “I haven’t done the best at keeping all sides equal, but when I start getting stressed, I go back to the triangle and make sure everything is balanced out, and that’s what I encourage each of you to do.”
Football players Wayne Crawford, Jr., and Markus Kuhn served as the masters of ceremonies for the event, which featured short comments from faculty athletics representative Sam Pardue, Caterpillar’s Rebecca Whipkey, Dean of undergraduate programs John Ambrose and Director of Athletics Debbie Yow.
“With all the time you spend with your academics and with your sports, I admire the fortitude you have,” Ambrose told the group.
Yow reminded the room of The Wall Street Journal poll of Fortune 500 CEOs that asked what universities they look to when hiring young graduates. NC State ranked No. 19 in the poll.
“I just want you to know that if you are here tonight, you really get it,” Yow said. “I’ve seen so many college athletes in my career whose eligibility expired without getting their degrees. They come back maybe 10 or 15 years later, trying to figure out how to do that, with a job, with a family, with other things in their lives.
“It’s so much more challenging. You’re not only going to get your degrees, but you’ll graduate with high GPAs, which is so important in a competitive job market. All of that makes a difference.”
One of the most decorated student-athletes of the night was women’s basketball player Brittany Strachan, who was recognized for being one of three NC State students to win the ACC's Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship, along with men’s soccer player Lucas Carpenter and gymnast Brittany Vontz. She also won the Collier Postgraduate Scholarship, the College of Engineering Dean’s Merit Scholarship and the Department of Computer Science’s senior award for citizenship and service.
The banquet, hosted by the NC State Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes, ended with recognition of NC State’s top 10 student-athletes, defined as those who have recorded the highest grade-point average in a minimum of five semesters on campus.
Seven of the 10 had perfect 4.0 GPAs, and another had a 3.99. Here’s a little bit about each:
• Whitney Barnette, cheerleading: A junior from Jacksonville, N.C., Barnette has a 3.94 GPA in biomedical engineering and genetics. She is a member of the Alpha Eta Mu Beta honor society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She has been a dean’s list student every semester she’s attended NC State and was named the 2008-09 cheerleading most valuable player. After graduation, she plans to attend graduate school at Duke in biomedical engineering.
• Amy DePasquale, gymnastics: A senior from Marlton, N.J., DePasquale maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA in secondary education with a concentration in English. She is a member of both the Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies and was named to the All-EAGL and All-ACC honor rolls this year. She will be recognized as one of NC State’s valedictorians at graduation in May. She plans to move back to New Jersey after graduation to teach English and coach gymnastics.
• Kimberlee Durham, women’s basketball: A junior from Apex, N.C., Durham has a cumulative 3.99 GPA in business administration and film studies. During her career, she has been a Caterpillar Scholar-Athlete, a dean’s list student and an ACC Honor Roll selection.
• Christopher Godell, cheerleading: A senior from Plattsburgh, N.Y., Goodell has a perfect 4.0 GPA in biological sciences and French. He is a Park Scholar and his family was recently named the 2008 NC State Family of the Year. He will attend the Harvard School of Dental Medicine next fall.
• Akash Gujarati, men’s tennis: A junior from Pune, India, Gujarati has a perfect 4.0 in electrical engineering. He is an ACC Honor Roll selection and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team. He has been a Caterpillar Scholar-Athlete and dean’s list student every semester at NC State.
• Brittney Hardiman, gymnastics: A senior from Apopka, Fla., Hardiman has a 3.95 GPA in sport management and business administration. She is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society and was named to both the All-EAGL team and the ACC Honor Roll this past year. She plans to stay an additional year at NC State to complete a double major. She also plans to obtain an MBA after graduation.
• Brian Himelright, men’s cross country and track: A junior from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Himelright owns a 4.0 GPA in technology, engineering and design education. He was invited to join the NC State Golden Chain honor society. He is also a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars as well as the Golden Key International honor society. He is a multiple ACC Academic Honor Roll selection who plans to attend graduate school at NC State.
• Linzy Martinelli, cheerleading: A junior from Harwinton, Conn., Martinelli has a 4.0 GPA in elementary education and is ranked first in her class. She has been a Caterpillar Scholar-Athlete selection and dean’s list student every semester at NC State. She is a Phi Kappa Phi and National Society of Collegiate Scholars nominee. After graduation, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in student affairs.
• Cora Shull, cross country and track: A junior from Greensboro, N.C., Shull maintains a perfect 4.0 in math education. She’s been a dean’s list selection every semester at NC State and a two-time ACC Honor Roll selection. She plans to attend graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in math education and hopes one day to be a high school math teacher and cross country/track coach.
• Zane Tharakan, men’s soccer: A junior from Raleigh, Tharakan has a 4.0 GPA in business administration with a concentration in finance. He has been on both the dean’s list and ACC Honor Roll every semester at NC State. He was a 2010 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar nominee and was named to the 2010-11 men’s soccer All-ACC Academic team. Tharakan will intern this summer at Cisco as a global sales operations analyst. After graduation, he plans to pursue graduate school.
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
