Nov. 13, 2014
By Alexis Shelton, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State student-athletes have set a standard of excellence and a benchmark for success on the field and in the classroom.
In the latest NCAA report of Graduation Success Rates (GSR), Penn State student-athletes continue to graduate well above their peers nationwide. This year, according to the NCAA's annual study of institutions across the nation, Penn State posted a GSR of 89 percent. That 89 percent by Penn State is compared to an average of 82 percent from all other Division I institutions.
Academically and performance-wise, student welfare and athletic development are key factors in Penn State's consistent success on and off the field.
The athletic department is committed to continue adding more resources to keep student-athletes at the top of the ranks in many aspects of intercollegiate athletics.
iPads Distributed to Every Student-Athlete
One area of enhancement was the distribution of iPads beginning with the 2014-'15 school year. Back in August, the department announced that it would provide more than 800 iPads to all student-athletes across 31 varsity teams.
Associate Athletic Director Charmelle Green talked about how the intercollegiate athletics mobile technology program came to life.
"A committee was formed consisting of student-athletes, coaches, faculty, athletic administrators, educational technology services and Apple educators," Green said.
Green said that they developed a program that would allow the student-athletes to utilize the technology and the iPads to enhance their development learning skills. She said that this would also provide the ability for the student-athletes to communicate with faculty and classmates while on the road, as well as staying involved and engaged with classes while managing a very robust travel schedule.
"That's what this program was intended to do. It's an educationally focused program," said Green. "The committee identified applications that would enhance learning skills, and effective study habits as well to assist student-athletes with organizing work and other obligations."
There are a lot of exciting features and programs that are featured on iPads. Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics carefully took into consideration what exactly athletes would need in order to succeed.
"We thought about what sort of apps and links we wanted to install on the iPads before they were distributed to the student-athletes," Green said. "We wanted to make sure that we installed quick links to websites student-athletes use everyday, such as Angle and intercollegiate athletics."
This is a program that provides policies and the procedures that the student-athletes must follow. It provides them with information on how to maximize the use of the iPad for educational purposes.
"One of the apps that we were really keen on was the note-taking, notability app," Green said. "Our student-athletes expressed a need for this app, which allows them to take and organize notes. It would help them learn retain information."
For women's soccer freshman Emily Ogle, the iPads are indeed a wonderful tool to use.
"School-wise it's great," Ogle said. "You can pull up stuff on Angel while you're in class. It's really good for doing your homework on it. It's also good for traveling, and carrying that instead of a laptop takes away so much weight."
Green also added that the iPads can be used for everyday personal use, as well.
"They can still use social network sites like Twitter and Facebook and such," Green said.
A big smile came across the face of Green when asked about the feedback of the iPads.
"We've got nothing but praise and terrific feedback from the student-athletes," Green said. "I know of one athlete who broke her wrist and she isn't able to write or take notes in class. Thanks to the iPads however, she's able to angle the iPad allowing her to type with a cast."
Of all the stories she's heard, Green said that the best stories have been about the athletes who are able to communicate with their families through FaceTime.
"Some of them aren't able to go home all the time, so when I hear feedback that many are able to communicate more often through video calling, that really makes me feel great about the benefits of this program," said Green.
Additionally, the student-athletes are also able to watch practice video and game film on the software.
"For us, our coaches are putting our videos on box.com, which was an app they gave us," said women's soccer player Kindrah Kohne. "That helps us get video in and get to see what the coaches expect us to do and watch what we did wrong during the Friday games so that we can apply it for the Sunday games."
Finally, Green mentioned how the iPads aide students who are not able to utilize a personal computer for college.
Refueling Stations Up and Running
Another great addition to the athletic department was a concept of supplying refueling stations for student-athletes. Opening on Oct. 30, the refueling stations were added to multiple locations throughout the campus.
"The fueling stations are fuel and calories that we provide free of charge to the student-athlete," said Director of Sports Nutrition Kristine Clark, PhD.
"Practice facilities, locker rooms and even athletic training and weight rooms is where they will be," said Clark. "They'll even be here at our Sports Nutrition office in Rec Hall."
Clark said that the stations will feature a wide range of foods and beverages.
"They'll provide nutrients, such as carbohydrates and proteins that assist in supplementing the athletes diet with calories they need for before an after training," said Clark.
"I believe that it will really help out with their daily skills development and performance in class," Green said. "Also, their performances during games and practices will improve as well. Athletes burn so much energy throughout the day, but with these stations, we're helping them stay energized all day, so that they don't get tired."
Clark spoke to the importance of enhanced caloric intake.
"The fueling stations will likely provide more calories for an athlete which will result in more energy at practice," Clark said. "They'll also provide good proteins and carbohydrates after the athlete is done working out. That will enable the athlete to be able to recover more efficiently and also be able to enable more muscle at a faster rate."
The refueling stations have a wide variety of more than 38 foods. The stations feature carbohydrate foods, including cereal, fruits and vegetables. They also include snack foods, such as pretzels and granola bars; and a range of proteins foods, like milk, yogurt, hummus and different types of jerky.
"The refueling stations are awesome," said Ogle. "It's so refreshing to have snacks because we're going all the time, we have so much going on and sometimes we just need to grab a little snack. It's really helpful."