Schools

Middlefield's Michael French Honored as Top Student Athlete at WCSU

DANBURY — A Middlefield student at Western Connecticut State University is one of 15 to be recognized as a top student athlete.

Rugby player Michael French has maintained a strong GPA while continuing to play in the school's sports program.

“I think all of our student athletes do an amazing job. To be able to balance the demands of a competitive college athletics schedule that includes practices, team meetings, travel, competition dates and community service with a challenging academic course load is extremely difficult,” said Don Ferguson, who coaches Smith and the WCSU volleyball team. “Many of the student athletes here at Western bring with them a history of time management and success in the classroom, while many others are experiencing this intensity for the first time. To be successful at both, you must be a person who values both academics and athletics and understand that you have to work hard in order to achieve success in either. “

The other Honors Program student-athletes are: Karissa Smith (volleyball), Melissa DiNino (basketball), Waterbury; Thea Martin (soccer), New Fairfield; Alexandrea Sabith (softball), Meriden; Lydia Walter (softball), East Haddam; Jennifer Hogan (volleyball), Franklin Square, N.Y.; Cady Cordes (volleyball), Nevada; Path Bhavsar (tennis), Danbury; Karen Velez (tennis), Danbury; Katherine Robison (swimming/diving), Wallingford; Brennan Diaz (football), Oxford; Andres Jimenez-Frank (soccer), Naugatuck; Nicole Mair (rugby), Milford; and Meaghan Gustafson (soccer), Newington.

“In my own experience, I find that those student athletes who work hard in the classroom are the same ones who will be willing to work hard on the court,” Ferguson said. “These students also have excellent priorities in place when they arrive on campus. It helps create a culture and atmosphere where academic achievements are valued as much as athletic success.”

In 1987, the Honors Program at Western was founded to foster and nurture academic excellence among outstanding students in all four schools of the university. It is built on the fundamental assumption that knowledge is an open set of questions and ideas to be explored, rather than a closed set of facts to be memorized.

The Honors Program is designed to expose students to fundamental modes of inquiry found in various academic fields, and to illustrate the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to exploring a topic or issue.

The program has two pathways: a complete program open to first-year students and first-semester sophomores, and a one-year program (or associate option) available to juniors and seniors.

For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

— Submitted to Patch by WCSU


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here