UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - When Penn State softball student-athlete Chelsea Bisi was just in elementary school, her father, Rod Bisi, said he and his wife, Brandy, always had three calendars just to help organize Chelsea's busy schedule.
"Chelsea was always thinking ahead," Rod Bisi said. "I think that's why we are seeing the success she is having at Penn State right now, both as a student and an athlete. That's been her mentality since a very young age."
Chelsea Bisi balances the demanding schedule of being a softball athlete and a student in Penn State's Schreyer Honors College and succeeds in both halves of the term "student-athlete."
Bisi not only has succeeded on the field by being named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and hitting a team-high 13 home runs in 2019, but she also excelled in the classroom by being accepted into the Penn State Smeal College of Business Master of Accounting program and named a 2019-20 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar during her time in Happy Valley.
Through the academic program, Bisi, who majors in finance, will earn a dual degree and complete her master's within five years.
Both the academic and athletic side of Bisi's journey to Penn State would be long odds for most.
During her senior year of high school Bisi was accepted into the Schreyer Honors College—which has reported only 1,990 enrolled scholars, according to the 2018-2019 academic review— while being in a Division I athletic program that features only around 800 student athletes.
The softball team's academic counselor Neil Rager said he only advises a "handful" of student-athletes that are also enrolled in the Honors College. Along with Bisi, junior Claire Swedberg is one of two on the team.
"It's something that is probably a little bit unique to student-athletes, just with the extra requirements that come along with being in the Honors College," Rager said. "It's something that takes that extra time and dedication, and [Bisi] definitely gives that."
Some of the requirements Schreyer scholars must maintain is a semester and cumulative GPA of a 3.40, a total of 35 honors credits and the submission of a thesis upon graduation.
The scholar coins her "Type A" personality and her inability to procrastinate for the reason why she is able to manage being a successful student-athlete with effortless effort.
Bisi said she always loved making lists to help her prioritize and organize her tasks for the day.
"It's kind of always came naturally to me, and I definitely think that my organization and being able to stick to my lists helps me balance everything," she said.
Her strict work ethic has been something that her parents have witnessed in her since an early age.
Whether it is preparing for her future career in accounting, a project, an exam, or an at-bat in the on-deck circle, Rod Bisi said she is always "one step ahead."
"Chelsea is an extremely hard worker and organized person," Rod Bisi said. "When she does something, she is fully committed to doing it the right way and seeing it completed. I would say she's the ultimate time manager. She always has her to-do list, and she prioritizes her day."
Balancing sports and education are nothing new to Bisi. As a young child, she started playing baseball at the age of four, which eventually turned into softball—while also being a part of the elementary band and chorus and her school's volleyball team.
"I think I just kind of learned from a pretty young age how to balance sports and also school," Bisi said.
While Bisi said her parents have always been supportive and taught her to work hard, her achievements mostly stem from her intrinsic drive and self-motivation.
"I think [academics] have always been the most important thing to me," Bisi said. "In high school and middle school, I was always trying to get the 'A'—always trying to do my best in the classroom."
When it comes to achieving her goals, her father said her own determination has led her to networking with "major accounting firms" in an effort to map out her future career.
"We didn't even find out until she's made the contacts, because she is such a go-getter," Rod Bisi said. "We didn't have to encourage her or tell her to do that. She would do that on her own, because has goals and she is determined."
High expectations, the sacrifice of social aspects and the utilization of Penn State's Morgan Academic Center—where Rager said she would be there studying on a regular basis— have also been a part of the key ingredients to her success.
According to Rager, Bisi's work ethic is "one of the best" he has ever witnessed.
"She really takes the initiative on her own to apply what she is doing in the classroom, to looking for other experiences that she can utilize her time here at Penn State," Rager said. "Her willingness to take the initiative and do a lot of on her own is really what sets her apart from not only student-athletes, but students in general."
Bisi said that she definitely knows that her career goal lies within public accounting. Upon graduation, she hopes to start working for one of the "Big Four" accounting firms, specifically in their tax services division.
Last summer Bisi had an internship arranged with a Fortune 500 corporation, but it was pulled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her current internship, which she applied to this recent winter, is with the Moss Adams accounting company, located in Seattle, Washington.
"I'm just so excited to get the career experience," Bisi said. "I definitely think it will help me whenever I go to look for full-time jobs soon."
Classmate Claire Swedberg, the other Schreyer Honors Scholar on the softball team who is majoring in biobehavioral health, said that her and Bisi's shared "balancing act" and attitude toward their academics has allowed them to connect further beyond Beard Field.
"She's one of my best friends, and I think that we kind of feed off each other in the same way," Bisi said. "We are both very academically motivated and work really hard on the softball field."
Going into an "intimidating" freshman year, Swedberg said she did not know what balancing honors courses and softball practices was going to entail.
When Bisi and Swedberg both found out they were accepted into the honors college, it was comforting to know that they would not be going through that new experience alone.
"I think knowing that Chelsea is going through the same thing and we could compare experiences was awesome then, and even more now that we are going to be writing pages and pages of thesis work," Swedberg said. "It's really nice to know that I can go to her even just to brag a little. I know she's genuinely happy for me and genuinely proud of me, and I'm the same for her."
Although their majors are different, Swedberg said the different experiences and challenges they face within their courses heightens the respect they have for each other in the realm of education.
"I think we have so much respect for each other's unique positions," Swedberg said. "We have that common ground of Schreyer and the fact that we hold ourselves to a really a high standard in the classroom, and we also can kind of compare our different experiences.
When faced with recent knee injuries after her freshman year, Bisi had to work even harder to fit in the dedicated treatment process amongst her already tightly scheduled day. One of her most eminent priorities was getting back on the softball field as soon as possible.
Her approach to how she accomplishes certain goals, however, were altered.
"I've had so many knee injuries recently that I think I kind of learned that I have to set smaller goals for myself athletically, just because with an injury, you're not always able to get back to how you were before," Bisi said. "I think my focus now is just to be the best that I can be, given the circumstances. I'm just excited to get back on the field and just to play again."
Swedberg said the team, who "rallied around" Chelsea during her injuries, was a constant source of support during her recovery.
"She's really inspiring in that sense to the fact that she has come back so many times and continues to fight to be on the field with us—which is awesome to see," Swedberg said.
While Rod Bisi claims that his daughter's success is accredited just to her own intrinsic drive, Rager said he has witnessed how her parents serve as important motivating factors.
The strong foundation of support from her family has helped "push" Bisi, according to Rager.
Like his daughter, Rod Bisi also had to balance the challenges of being a student-athlete at the University of Maryland, where he played baseball. Chelsea said his experience has helped shaped and influence her own.
"I was so lucky for my dad to have had the same experiences that I was going to have," Bisi said. "He was always so great with telling me just what to expect."
Rod Bisi said he was able to give Chelsea some suggestions on how to successfully balance athletics and education.
His experiences and advice that were passed down to Chelsea are now also being passed down to a group of younger players that she gives lessons to.
"It's kind of neat to see and witness some of the conversations she's having with the younger players that she is giving a lesson to, and it's some of the same conversations that we were having," Rod Bisi said.
Rager said that Bisi's influence stretches beyond athletics, as she leads by example academically, as well.
In fact, while Bisi puts immense amounts of effort in both her athletics and academics, her "balancing act" is more so intertwined.
"I think that from pretty early on I had the hard-working ability to always work for what I want," Bisi said. "I'm sure that definitely does cross over into softball. I think it's really similar that I'm the same way in both school and sports, where if I see something that I want and I set that expectation, I work pretty hard to try to meet both of the goals."