Oct. 14, 2010
Throughout the 2010 season, Penn State will feature a student athlete before every home game. The feature will appear in the game program for the Minnesota and Wisconsin matches. PSU takes on the Gophers on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Badgers on Sunday at Noon.
By Jeremy S. Fallis, Athletic Communications
Leaving one family and joining another is a tough transition for any student-athlete, but for junior defender Jackie Hakes, Penn State helped her fit right in.
"Coming here [from] the west coast to here, the team really becomes like your family," the Spokane, Wash. native said. "Everyone is inviting and everyday we push each other. You become a family and you realize that each and every individual, every member of this family is important to our success."
Hakes' success comes not only on the field as a hard-working reserve player, but in the classroom as well. The junior biochemistry major faces one of the most demanding course schedules on the team in addition to being a student-athlete. Ultimately, Hakes' goal is to be like her mother, Katie: a dentist.
"My mother is a dentist so I've always liked that field," Hakes noted. "I've always thought biochemistry was such an interesting major and an interesting melding of not only biology, but also chemistry and looking at living organisms. So I took the opportunity that Penn State provided and went at it. I've enjoyed it along the way, tremendously."
The connection goes a while back as she was born just before Katie Hakes' fourth year of dental school. Now it's reading mother like daughter.
"I was kind of brought up with it," Hakes said. "I read dental textbooks. I've just always thought medicine was really neat and I specifically honed in on dentistry because of my background."
Always the consummate teammate, Hakes arrives early to every practice, barring any class conflicts, and is known as one of the last to leave the training facility, something that does not go unnoticed by the coaching staff.
"She epitomizes what we're looking for here at Penn State," head coach Erica Walsh said. "She works extremely hard in the classroom. None of it comes easy for her but she works hard at it and she wants what's best for this program."
For Hakes, choosing a school like Penn State was easy with its outstanding academic reputation as well as the team's winning way. The Nittany Lions are riding a 12-year Big Ten title streak, which dates back to 1998 when Hakes was just seven years old.
Moreover, Penn State allows Hakes to pursue her dream of being a dentist, while helping the Nittany Lions to title No. 13.
"You really can't pick a better school," Hakes gushed. "Penn State has the great melding of great athletics, the great tradition, winning the Big Ten for 12 consecutive years, but also having the academics to back it up.
"Providing the student-athletes with not only a great athletic experience and a great family but also a great degree that you can take along the way and make a professional career out of it."
When Hakes leaves State College at the end of 2011, she'll have her undergraduate degree in hand and plans to attend dental school. Hakes will also leave with Walsh knowing the success that lay ahead.
"She does it with a quiet confidence," Walsh added. "She's on her own, she gets her work done [and] you never have to worry about her. You never have to worry about her fitness or her GPA or taking care of her business, she's just a very responsible young lady and very much represents our program in a positive way."
--NITTANY LIONS--