Straight A-Team: Melissa Roemmele
6/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
June 17, 2008
This is the ninth in a series of 16 features about Miami University's brightest student-athletes. Their exceptional academic performance during the recently completed spring semester earned them a spot on the roster of the RedHawks' exclusive Straight A Team. In addition to their rigorous schedules on the athletic fields, each of these individuals earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average this past semester. Overall, during the 2007-08 academic year, Miami's 500-plus student-athletes earned an impressive cumulative 3.0 GPA in the classroom.
The answer: "Knowing that I'm capable of getting the grades I want to get."
The question: "What motivates Miami diver Melissa Roemmele in the classroom?"
It is confidence combined with a strong work ethic that allows Roemmele to take 15+ classroom credits while still performing on the athletic field. As a junior going into her senior year next fall, Roemmele is no stranger to either academic or athletic success.
This past season, she was named to the Academic All-MAC team for the second consecutive season, meaning she maintains above a 3.20 cumulative GPA and has participated in more than half of her team's contests. Furthermore, in this year's MAC championships she placed in the top six in the one-meter and three-meter dives, finishing fifth overall. Roemmele is a psychology and linguistics double-major, the combination stemming from strong interests in the social sciences and English, as well as a desire to enhance her educational experience.
"I've always been more interested in social sciences than anything else. In high school I debated between majoring in psychology and English. I settled on psychology upon entering my freshman year of college. I loved my psychology classes but I still wondered how else I could enhance my coursework. I started looking through the Miami Bulletin and found some information about linguistics. Given that I had thought about studying English for so long, it appealed to me. Linguistics fits well alongside psychology because it focuses on how individuals learn and employ language, which is something that has always interested me and now fascinates me the more I study it."
She also enjoys working alongside and learning from the faculty at Miami.
"Almost all of my psychology professors have been fabulous. I help with research in Dr.Messman-Moore's psychology lab and I've enjoyed getting to know her on a more personal level. I also really like Dr. Thomas, who taught my PSY374 class this past semester. You can really tell she loves what she teaches. In general, I like professors who are willing to learn alongside their students, not just reiterate the same material every semester."
The demands of completing a double-major while still performing athletically requires, as mentioned earlier, a strong work ethic. Roemmele approaches these two demands in a similar fashion.
"My work ethic during practice and in school is similar. Success in both requires me to apply myself daily. It's easy to push obligations out of your mind until the very last second, but I try to remind myself that adequate preparation is the best way to save yourself from stressing before a meet or test. Whether it means repetitively trying a dive I'm terrified of, or studying early for a test, I do my best to give it my all every day."
What was Roemmele's biggest challenge this semester? It was CSA151, a computer programming class, completely outside of her double-major.
"Even though it was only a 100-level class, the workload was closer to that of a 300-level class. The professor had warned us of this, but I still wanted the challenge. And it was definitely a challenge, but one I'm glad I took on. Computer programming requires a unique kind of reasoning ability. I can't say it came entirely intuitively to me but I definitely worked very hard in this class and it paid off."
The will to challenge herself makes Roemmele unique in the classroom, something she hopes will propel her into the graduate school of her choosing, where she plans to continue her education in psychology.
This summer, though taking a deserved break from academics, she will be studying for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). In addition, Roemmele will be "practicing diving, coaching diving, and working at a swim shop" in her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky.
No doubt she will be ready for her last diving season here at Miami. When head women's swimming coach Dave Jennings was asked about Roemmele's success, he attributed it to her consistency,
"She's been through a lot the past few years with multiple diving coaches, but she is a steady individual and consistent with what she does. She always works hard in practice and is dependable in her performances."
With a chuckle, he also added that, "she always has her nose in a book, whether on the road or here at Miami."
Clearly, she is a true example of the student-athlete.
Players Mentioned
