STRAIGHT A TEAM: Jaime Hartman
6/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Synchronized Skating
June 23, 2008
This is the 13th 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.
In order to become an elite-level figure skater, a great sense of balance is required. Pursuing a degree in early childhood education, a curriculum that requires both class work and field work, coupled with a full time commitment to the Miami Senior Synchronized Skating team, junior Jaime Hartman has shown the type of balance needed to excel both on and off the ice.
"I am very determined to do well in my classes and establish myself as the kind of teacher that schools are looking to hire," Hartman said. "I put 100 percent into everything that I do, whether it is in the classroom or on the ice. I have learned how to balance teaching and skating so that I am able to contribute to both programs at Miami University."
Hartman has known for quite some time that she was interested in teaching and credits one former teacher for her decision to go into the field.
"I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career that involved children but my first grade teacher (Betsy Marl, Saline, Mich.) is the reason that I decided to go into teaching," Hartman said. "Her classroom is lively and full of laughter, she has created a place that her students cannot wait to enter each morning! Her life is inspiring and she has been my mentor throughout my own education."
She also knew from an early age that Miami was the school that she strived to compete for.
"As a young skater I always said that I wanted to skate for Miami. I started coming to Miami's Summer Skating Camps in 1998 and continued to attend for the next five years. Miami skating is definitely known in the skating world and coming here and skating on the Senior team was a goal that I had set and worked hard to achieve!"
While going through the rigors of a class schedule that included eight courses, five of which were part of the early childhood program (science, mathematics, social studies, organizing and planning and personal health and pedagogy), plus a two week field experience at College Corner Union School in College Corner, Ohio, Hartman also helped the senior squad capture a silver medal at the U.S. National Championships in Providence, R.I.
Name: Jaime Hartman
Hometown/HS: Saline, Mich./Saline High
School Year: Junior
Major: Early Childhood Education
Spring Semester GPA: 4.0
Players Mentioned
