North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Soccer Graduates Five on Saturday
5/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
May 9, 2012
Raleigh, N.C. -
The NC State men’s soccer team will see a total of five former players earn their NC State undergraduate degree this Saturday.
Farouk Bseiso (communication, public relations), Chandler Knox (business administration, entrepreneurship), Zane Tharakan (business administration, finance), Watt Williams (business administration, finance), and Justin Willis (sport management) will all take part in NC State’s graduation ceremony Saturday morning.
“This class of graduates were a hard working, committed group of players that represented the Wolfpack well on and off of the field,” said head coach Kelly Findley. “It was a pleasure to work with them, and I know they will be successful in their future endeavors.”
Farouk Bseiso
Bseiso was named to the Dean’s List in six of his seven semesters, and finished up his undergrad work this past semester with an internship in the athletics department.
Best part about NC State: That it is surrounded by the beautiful city of Raleigh.
What you will miss about NC State: I will miss the liveliness of campus and the surrounding downtown Raleigh area.
Proudest accomplishment here: Completing 4 years of juggling school, soccer, and social life as a student-athlete, graduating.
What it means to get this degree: I will always have something to fall back on after soccer.
Favorite soccer memory: A tie between beating Carolina in the ACC tournament, or when Alan Sanchez scored the winning free kick in the last 10 seconds to beat High Point.
Toughest class and why: By far my toughest class was ST 311- Intro to Statistics. It was set up as a hybrid class statistics is just plain hard by nature.
Favorite class and why: My favorite class was Organizational Communication. I loved it because it gave me a lot of insight into how organizations should be run.
Future immediate plans: I plan to play professional soccer in either Europe or the Middle East.
Chandler Knox
Knox was named to the Dean’s List all seven semesters, and went into the spring with a GPA of 3.653.
Best part about NC State: The people
What you will miss about NC State: Teammates, friends, coaches
Proudest accomplishment here: Graduating with honors
What it means to get this degree: I am extremely thankful and blessed to have received my degree from a school like NC State. It has set the groundwork for what I hope to be a bright future.
Favorite soccer memory: Beating Carolina in the ACC tournament
Toughest class and why: Econ. Just didn't appeal to me
Favorite class and why: Entrepreneurship. Most interesting and professors
Future immediate plans: District Manager for Aldi
Zane Tharakan
Tharakan will graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA, having made the Dean’s List all seven semesters. He was a 2012 All-ACC academic selection, and recently named a 2012 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Finalist.
Best part about NC State: The sense of community and togetherness everyone has towards the University and each other. Everyone truly is a part of the Wolfpack family.
What you will miss about NC State: I'll miss the amazing WB weight room, soccer facilities, coaches, staff, and professors.
Proudest accomplishment here: Being a 4-year Division 1 student athlete in the ACC. Not many people can say that. Not many people know what it's like to stay up late at night studying after a game and wake up a couple of hours later for practice, all while being so physically and mentally exhausted that I thought I wouldn't make it through the next day.
What it means to get this degree: I am extremely fortunate to be receiving a degree from the best university in the state of North Carolina. There are many people out there that would love to come here. I am extremely blessed and fortunate. I know for sure, that the fact that I have a NC State degree, doors will open up for me whereas for others they wont. I will get opportunities that others will not. Although it wasn't easy, next to being a student-athlete, it's one of my proudest accomplishments.
Favorite soccer memory: So many to choose from: Beating UNC in the ACC Tournament on penalty kicks, getting a goal and an assist to beat Duke, beating App. State 2-1 off of my throw-ins and getting slide tackled by the goalie (he got a red card - I was so close to scoring)
Toughest class and why: MIE 480-Business Policy and Strategy. On top of the 120 page company analysis on Heineken that we wrote, which included a 50 page Financial Ratio Analysis, the workload was insane. There were projects, simulations, presentations, and tests left and right.
Favorite class and why: BUS 425-Advanced Personal Finance. I found it the most practical and applicable class I took at NC State. Professor Bill Sloan, who is a Certified Financial Planner, taught us about estate planning, insurance, retirement planning, and other financial issues that we will face on a daily basis. I highly recommend it to everyone. I now know how to plan out my 401K when I start working, plan out my life insurance, and what to do with my estate.
Future immediate plans: I will be working at Cisco Systems in RTP, NC as an Associate Sales Representative in the Cisco Sales Associates Program.
Justin Willis
Willis joined the Pack for his final season this past fall after transferring from High Point, and started 19 games as an outside defender. He now plays professional with the Carolina RailHawks.
Best part about NC State: Being around such a rich history and environment with passionate individuals that are all striving for success and a common goal. Being able to represent the Wolfpack was an honor and to be a student-athlete and play for a school such as NC State was a true blessing. It was truly an honor and it will be something I will cherish for the rest of my life.
What you will miss about NC State: I will miss all my teammates and coaches tremendously. I will miss all the little things from breakfast with the team, practices, weight training, games, traveling, and just the whole experience of being a student-athlete. Day in and day out you are around the guys so much that you merely become one big family. It truly is a special relationship that you have with one another and for me that is something I will miss dearly.
Proudest accomplishment here: Simply be given the opportunity to play in front of my family, friends, and hometown. I was blessed and very fortunate to wear the Red and White, it was a true honor. It was a feeling I will never forget. I cannot thank the university, coaches, and teammates enough for the opportunity they have personally allowed me.
What it means to get this degree: It means the world to me be able to now call myself a graduate of the North Carolina State University. My father is an NC State Alumni and growing up as a kid he would take me to all the NC State football and basketball games. From day one I have been a Wolfpack fan and feel truly blessed to not only be a supporter of the University, but a proud graduate of the institution as well.
Favorite soccer memory: I contacted Coach Findley to discuss having an opportunity to play for the team. It was a very tough process with paperwork and NCAA compliance, but after a long couple of months, it soon became all worth the wait. I will never forget one of the last days of pre-season, the day before our first exhibition match when Coach Findley called me out of the warm up to come have a quick chat. To be honest it caught me off guard. As I ran over to coach, I remember looking at him with a smile and soon after he congratulated me with a hug telling me that the NCAA had cleared me eligible for the 2011 Season.
Toughest class and why: I believe it was PRT 466 Sport Finance & Economics. I can remember the exams being in class, but online, and the multiple-choice question having six to seven different answer choices. I had never seen an exam with the instructions to circle the correct answer with answer choices starting with A and ending G. Squeaking by with a C- was an accomplishment in itself!
Favorite class and why: My favorite class was PRT 277 with Dr. Casper. One of the main reasons I enjoyed this class so much was due to the NFL Lockout. The first day of class a roll sheet was sent around and with the name Willis, I know to just search towards the bottom of the page. Scanning the bottom, I saw the name next to Willis. The name read, Mario Williams. I remember taking a second glance and then looking around the room. Come to find out that the No. 1 NFL draft pick was sitting two seats to my right. For such a famous and well-respected football player, Mario was one of the most down to earth and easygoing guys I had ever met.
Watt Williams
Williams entered the spring semester with a GPA of 3.639, and made the Dean’s List four times.
