Unknown Speaker 0:00
Welcome to MSU. Today, I'm Bill Beekman, Vice President and Director of Athletics at Michigan State University, joined by several guests today. Oh, first, Todd Edwards, Executive Director of student athletes support services. Todd, thanks for joining us. Thanks, Bill. appreciate you having me on. And we've got a member of the women's tennis team. Caroline zevo. Hello, Caroline. Hi, thank

Unknown Speaker 0:28
you for having me on as well.

Unknown Speaker 0:30
Thanks so much for being here. And john go from Mensa track and field. So thanks for joining us, john. Yeah, thank you for having me. So Todd, we have this this organization, this group in athletics, called student athlete support services, that operates out of the Clara Bell Smith Student Academic Center. So tell us what, what that encompasses and what what you all do?

Unknown Speaker 0:59
Well, I'll try to sum that up as concisely as I can, which isn't always easy, but we have a full time staff of 14 people including eight academic coordinators to learning specialists or Director of Student Athlete development it coordinator we we work with our students really I you know, there's a big focus is on academic support, but we really work with our students in a lot of areas that that pertain to their life away from from their fields of competition. But we do we do focus heavily on our academic services and academic support as well as the student athlete development side with a big focus there on career development and career services. We work on the academic side with, with assistance in scheduling with with helping manage the university academically with connecting students to their academic advisors in their various departments and colleges. We work with them on major selection and again getting them in touch with the right folks early on. We start out as when they come in as freshmen trying to assess of interests taken an interest inventory and see what what career paths they match up with which academic interests and whatnot so we can we can help with them together that way and then and then just be there for them to support them all along the way. You know help them in in accommodating any misses for Team travel that they may have you know, we always say we're with them from from recruitment to graduation and beyond.

Unknown Speaker 2:28
That's that's a it really is an extraordinary set of services that your your team provides, and end each year that culminates in a really extraordinary academic Gala. And unfortunately, this year, our our gala had to be online and and remote, but walk us through what we celebrated that academic galleys here.

Unknown Speaker 2:51
Oh, absolutely. Well, we have, you know, this year was our 24th academic Gala. And as you mentioned, we were we were virtual. With it being virtual, I do want to say Oh, and I want to thank Angela Monti, she is our Director of Student Development. And she she manages a gala for us each year regardless of format. She and Nick Baker and Spartan vision really, really did a fantastic job in in delivering what we thought was as as good and as quality event as we could have without actually being there. But what we normally have, like I said it started in 1998. This is our 24th next year, we're very much planning on being in person for our silver anniversary. But each year we recognize excellence in academic performance in in community service and leadership in various areas. We have our student athlete honor roll to make that honor roll students must be at least a third semester at MSU and have a 3.0 GPA or have had a 3.0 over the last year. This year. We recognize 471 of those students. We also recognize our graduates coming up in that year. And some of our some of our team and individual awards. We have our athletic directors award, which would you present for those who are high GPA. men's team and women's seem so so to have those awards. We have our Gwendolyn Morel Service Award, we have our diversity Leadership Award. And then our big individual awards that are that are better at the apex and, and at the end of the the the ceremony of the night is our President's Award where we, where we honor our male and female graduating senior with the highest team GPA, who's exhausted their eligibility and completed their degree in the current year. This year, for the first time ever we had eight recipients all with perfect 4.0 raw GPAs. And I say raw because you know during this pandemic over the course of the last three semesters. So last spring this fall this spring, our students have the opportunity to opt for satisfactory, not satisfactory grades. Well, these students these eight students completed their entire academic career here at MSU perfect natural I'll say natural sort of raw, natural, perfect natural 4.0 human GPA, which is just fantastic. I mean, not in many years, our top GPAs aren't four point O's, they're still very, you know, they excel and they're in the high three nines or three eights or what have you. But to have eight with a 4.0 is just phenomenal.

Unknown Speaker 5:19
Yeah, that that is extraordinary. And that that brings me to, to our two student guests on today's program. And so Karolina is a is a person who's really excelled, both on the tennis court and academically. Tell us Yeah, well, first of all, how do you make that work? You know, I remember in my college days long ago, though, they may have been that I'm not sure that that any of those that I would have excelled that so. So keeping both of those balls in the air is really extraordinary. How do you do that? And? And well, we'll start there. How do you do that?

Unknown Speaker 6:03
Not a lot of sleep? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Um, no, I think it it takes. It does take a lot of commitment. Personally, but also, I think it's just part of kind of the standards that I came into at Michigan State. And, you know, I came in and set a goal for myself to do everything I could to be the best tennis player that I could be. But at the same time, I didn't want to let my academic slip. So I knew that it would take effort and kind of just, every day when I don't feel like necessarily studying or, you know, doing an extra practice problem. I just remember kind of those goals that I set for myself at the beginning and just kind of push myself that way.

Unknown Speaker 6:47
Well, one of my my favorite quotes that we have had to hanging up in the indoor practice facility for many years is champions are built on 1000, invisible mornings. And it's it's so much the the toil and went went when there aren't fans in the stands and the extraordinarily hard work and dedication that that creates champions. So what are your, your you're a senior this year? What are your What are your plans for the future,

Unknown Speaker 7:22
I am starting a job with Dow Chemical and Midland Michigan, are in the middle of June. So I'll be a supply chain specialist with them, which I'm really excited about. It's a great company to work for. And it should be a really good position to kind of learn to be a good supply chain professional.

Unknown Speaker 7:40
So at Michigan State has the number one supply chain program in the country. So you're you're coming from a great program, for those of us that may not completely understand the concept what how would you just define supply chain? What what what do you learn in the supply chain? Major?

Unknown Speaker 8:01
always a tough question I personally have found but um, supply chain is, it's basically managing kind of every aspect of getting a product from the order from the customer's order all the way until that customer receives the product. So there's just so many different parts of it. And every single person with a supply chain role is going to be doing something different. But Michigan State does a really good job of teaching us kind of different, not only the different roles that you could have, whether it be logistics or purchasing, but also how to manage in different industries. So with some of our classes, we get to dive into the transportation industry or into the technology that helps support supply chain roles. So I think that that's one of the really big benefits of coming from Michigan State is we get such a wide variety of education.

Unknown Speaker 8:56
When you think about AI, just in terms of the concept of supply chain, you think about the auto industry with a dealership model has a certain kind of supply chain. And then you think about maybe the pharmaceutical industry where you have a project product with a relatively limited shelf life. And then you think maybe about on the other hand that the say the the concrete and gravel industry where the supply chain is tied to the location of the product because it's so expensive to move. And all of those things depending on the interest, depending on the the industry become really, really interesting. So I that that's really, really extraordinary major here at Michigan State. And thanks for sharing that with us. So, john, what are your What are your plans and tell us a little bit about your major and what you hope to accomplish with it.

Unknown Speaker 9:51
So I majored in horticulture, and then I got a minor in environmental health. So I come from a family farm in Massachusetts. We go grow fruits and vegetables, everything that you'd find in a farmer's market is pretty much what we grow in all direct consumer. So our supply chain is a little bit smaller than what Caroline's probably going to deal with. But we will deal with Dow Chemical and, and a couple other places that you know, we'll probably both be working with. So in that sense, I guess it's a small world. But so yeah, I majored in horticulture here. Initially, when I first came to school, and before I came to college, my intentions were to graduate and to go back to the family farm right away. But I took some classes that were outside of my major, and got out of my comfort zone a little bit with a couple classes. And I realized that I think I need a couple of years to not live in the same place that I will probably live the rest of my life, much to my parents dismay, I am going to take you know, two or three years and decide what what I'm going to do in those three years, I'm not really quite sure yet. But, you know, there's a lot going on in the world with food, and food and securities and food access. And that that's something that I've found that I'm really passionate about connecting people to where their food is coming from. And if maybe they're disconnected from that helped to improve the connection between the people and their food, and whether that's connection, whether the connection is just knowledge based, and they don't realize how much work goes into their food, I'd like to work to improve that or whether that connection is a physical connection with their food, where they don't have access to the right amount of food, or the proper nutrition, that's something else that I'm really interested in. So that's kind of where my education has, has shifted me. And then I plan on using that, even once I returned to the family farm to hopefully keep accomplishing those goals.

Unknown Speaker 11:54
Well, in john that really speaks so eloquently to the, to the land grant mission and how Michigan State you know, really developed as a, as an academic institution, in back many, many years ago before, well, when, when trains were the primary mode of transportation, they had seed trains that would go out and as extension enterprises, and travel throughout the state of Michigan and talk to farmers about the quality of their seeds, and hybridization of products and all of those kinds of things. And so, our horticulture program, and our ad programs have very, very deep roots in that work. And what you explain and describe really takes that into, you know, into a modern era where we're concerned about food deserts, and we're concerned about getting a getting from from farm and field to, to the to the dinner table and, and how that works and how it works efficiently and how we how we feed our society in an ecologically responsible way. And, and so, so that really is in so many ways the epitome of what, what started here 160 plus years ago, so that's a that's really, really special. So john, so Caroline is a is a Midland Midland Michigan student. And so, so isn't isn't in stater. But you come to Michigan State from from Massachusetts, at least half a country away. So what what drew you to Michigan State?

Unknown Speaker 13:37
So because I wanted to major in horticulture, my options are pretty limited. And then once you look at all the universities with horticulture, you have to look at the ones that are applicable to the climate that you want to return to and grow food. And so when I was looking at schools, I looked at Michigan State University, California Davis, University of Oregon Corvallis, Penn State, Cornell, and Virginia Tech. I put a point on a map where I live and I drove five and a half hour, six hours circle and I only looked outside of that. You know, I really wanted to take my opportunity to get away from home for a bit. And then once you align the quality of academics, the quality of athletics, and obviously, finances are a big choice in a lot of students minds. All those three things when you average it out Michigan State was was definitely the choice for me. And that's that's what brought me here. And yeah, I can't say that I've regretted my decision. So it's all worked out well since then.

Unknown Speaker 14:46
That's wonderful. That's wonderful. So Todd is we hear from, you know, two of our great student athletes. They are, they're in good company and our grads tuition rates have been have been very strong, but share with us a little bit about how our department's graduation rates stack up this year and, and how we how we evaluate graduation rates and success academically?

Unknown Speaker 15:16
You bet. Well, that's a great question for this year and every year really, but this year, our our all department graduation rates were all time highs in in three key categories. And these numbers are usually released released every year in November. And they represent cohorts that are at least six years in the rearview mirror, because of the rates allow for a six year window for students to graduate. And there's two different rates we look at, we have the old standard federal graduation rate, which basically looks at all the students that you bring in on scholarship in any given year as freshmen, how many of those graduate in a six year period, and we look at that as a single year rate, we look at it as a four year rate. And then instead of Les, implemented in 2003, the graduation success rate which allowed for transfers, which everyone kind of agreed was a maybe a better assessment to gauge who among those that are staying at institutions are graduating and so not penalizing students for needing to move around if they if they if they needed to change their mind on where they want to go to school. So that's the one that when we toss around the term graduation rates, a lot of times it's graduation success rate, or in this year's numbers are all student athlete graduation success rate was 92%, which represented an all time high, it just talked last year is 91%. And then our four year federal graduation rate, which I'll mentioned to the federal federal rate, which we refer to as the fGr. That's also the only rate that we can compare to the general student body. Because like I said, that one's been around forever for a long time. And that and that's the only one that has the same data that we can compare apples to apples, so to speak to the general student body. Well, our four year federal graduation rate was a 79%, which was three points higher than our previous, our single year, federal graduation rate, which represented the class that entered MSU in 2013, the single year fGr per federal grad rate for that class was 87%. Of that mark, put us six points higher than the general student body in the same cohort. So 81%, which 81% is nothing to sneeze at 87% for our athletes, and then that 87% was fourth highest among our power five conference fears. among public institutions, and that same group, we were number one, the only three ahead of us were Northwestern Stanford, and Notre Dame. So we were forced behind those three institutions in single year fGr. So just, you know, fantastic accomplishment, representative of so much, you know, first and foremost, so students that we're bringing in, you know, students like john and Caroline that are coming in and navigating and getting through and the support they received, you know, not only from our office, but from their coaches and our support staff within the department or our staff and faculty within the university. You know, it's just a reflection on so many. But those numbers, those numbers this year, were, were most impressive. We have seven sports that had a 100% graduation success rate, men's basketball, which I believe might have been the third year in a row is like ice hockey, men's tennis, rolling women's golf, softball and volleyball. And I want to throw out a special shout out to the ice hockey program. Because I think this might be the only time and in this only snapshot in time, we've had this our ice hockey program currently has a a federal graduation rate of 100% graduation success rate of 100% and an academic progress rate, which is another metric that the NCAA uses, that measures retention eligibility, and it's called the APR, they have an APR of 1000. So they have three perfect scores on the metrics that we're kind of judged on right now. And I like I said, I don't know if we've had that before previously universe sports. So I always like I want to give them a little special mention there.

Unknown Speaker 19:11
That's great. It really is extraordinary. And, you know, when when we use the phrase, student athletes, this student is the first part of that, and, and I think Todd with, with with your work and support and, and the, the young people that our coaches recruit, we've really been very, very fortunate to have good, extraordinary young people in the program. And you know, and it's, it's through their hard work, your hard work that it all comes together. So as it all comes together the the ones after that academic experience as an undergraduate ends with graduation, and this year, last year, our our graduations were All remote. And you know, and I think that, you know, for the students that are graduating really leave something to be desired. This year, we've got a bit of a hybrid model. So can you share that with us?

Unknown Speaker 20:14
Oh, you bet, we're very excited that the university, the spring is going to be holding outdoor graduation in person. In order to accommodate that, from a spacing standpoint, and an attendance standpoint, there are going to be many, many individual ceremonies over a three day period, some of our colleges are going to have as many as four or five ceremonies to accommodate this. And they're all going to be held in enlarge parking lots on campus, including ours as part of the stadium. And so other than that, other than the fact that they're outside in the parking lot and split into two, you know, several different groups, the, all the other components are going to be the same in terms of receiving their degrees, you know, getting your picture, having family there, all those types of things. So, we're very excited to finally be back in person with that today, because it's such a special event for our students and for their families. And for all of us really, that, that have the pleasure of seeing these students make their way through

Unknown Speaker 21:10
john and Caroline, I'm gonna go back and put you on the spot for a moment. And as we as we come to the conclusion of our time together, I always try and ask him interesting, maybe a little offbeat question. So So we'll start with Who is your Did you have a favorite class, that that really sort of spoke to you or hits you in a in a unique and special way that maybe was memorable, or that maybe you didn't think would be as interesting as it was? Gianna, a special class that you can recall from your time so far at Michigan State.

Unknown Speaker 21:47
So, in the past, the last two years of my career, I think most of my favorite classes have happened. And I started drifting away from the horticulture classes and taking some outside of my major, which I think made it the most interesting because it was things I was not aware of prior to. I'll go with the one that I'm in right now I'm in a photojournalism class. And that has been really interesting to me. And I think this kind of a test to as a student athlete, you need something outside of your student athlete name, to kind of take your mind away from athletics and academics. And for me, I picked up a camera once in a while. And that was one of my my things that I would do outside of it. And it helped to, you know, hone in on certain skills with that, and just teach me things that I wouldn't have learned otherwise. So that, as of now, that's probably one of the classes that I would put top on my list. And it Yeah, just opened my eyes to things that I wasn't aware of prior to. Yeah, that's

Unknown Speaker 22:50
great. And that that speaks, I think, to an important aspect of the, of the the undergraduate experience, particularly in a places as richly diverse as Michigan State where you can have those opportunities to explore something that maybe when you enrolled as a freshman you hadn't thought of, but the opportunity comes about and and it becomes a really interesting opportunity to grow. Whether whether that results in pursuing that as a as a career or or a passion or what have you, it at the very least broadens and stretches you as a person and makes you think so think about things a little differently. So God Carolina have a favorite class that you've had.

Unknown Speaker 23:33
Yeah, the one that stands out to me, in terms of my favorite class, is my physics physiology lab that I took my sophomore year. Typically, labs can be somewhat boring, depending on which one it is because you're doing kind of more traditional experiments. But this class, we had the chance to basically experiment on ourselves a lot. So we do a lot of unique activities, like pricking our own fingers to get our blood and test our cholesterol levels and our blood glucose. We did a test to determine what blood type we were on ourselves, which was really cool. We did some that were a little bit weird, but they were they were really interesting. And I loved the way that the professor won about teaching us physiology in a unique way. We didn't just do the traditional dissections or other lab activities. So that was definitely my favorite class in my time at Michigan State.

Unknown Speaker 24:35
Awesome. Well, you know, I'll ask the sort of the, the, the other side of that coin, what's your favorite moment and Caroline is a student athlete and on the on the athletic side of your life.

Unknown Speaker 24:51
that's a that's a hard one. But I think one of the most memorable moments for me was actually This season, we beat Illinois for the first time in since I've been here. And that was just really special because they've been a really strong team in the big 10 for multiple years now. And we ended up clinching the match for three, and just being able to kind of be there and celebrate with all my teammates kind of this this big victory for our program that was really special to me. Awesome. And, john,

Unknown Speaker 25:23
I don't think there's a specific moment, I think it's more of a culmination of moments. And it's probably this past year, where you can see it, if you follow track and field, and you look at the times that are going on and the big 10 in the nation. You know, this past year, it was really uncertain whether or not we're going to be able to compete. But everyone continued to, you know, just stick their nose in it. And really train hard. Now we're, we're seeing this culmination of all the efforts when we might not have we, they might have been just for nothing. But now this is probably the best that I've seen our team in a long time. And it's just really fun to watch us go out and have a workout and have it. We're running so much faster than we've ever been running and thrown farther than we've thrown. And just seeing everyone there. At the same time, getting to the point that we've all been working towards this is really special to watch, especially because we weren't sure if we'd be able to do it this year.

Unknown Speaker 26:24
Now that is really special. And And with that, I'll thank you so much for joining us today and sharing some of your very valuable pre examination time. We've got Yeah, this is this is a very tight time of year. And so. So Caroline zevo. JOHN, go, thank you so much for being part of our program today. And of course, Todd Edwards, the executive director of student athletes support services, who does so much of the behind the scenes work to make sure that our student athletes have opportunities academically, and then as they pursue their careers in their life pursuit. And the extraordinary work that we do at the Smith Center is, you know, is just just very, very top drawer and it wouldn't happen tied without us. So thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks, Bill. Thank you for having us. Thank you.

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