Photo Courtesy of AUM Athletics
How Emily Brown balances athletics and academics
By: Penton McNider
MONTGOMERY, Ala — The fall 2023 sports season and academic schedule are underway at Auburn University of Montgomery. With this semester entering the second month, student assignments are becoming more intense and student-athletes are facing higher stress levels. However, that is not the case for AUM student-athlete Emily Brown, a freshman on the Warhawks’ volleyball team.
When asked if Brown felt any extra pressure being an AUM athlete, she explained it’s in her nature to be a representative for a team or club. Since she’s been doing it since high school, adding while she doesn’t feel the pressure, she’ll admit there’s still some. Specifically, when it comes to upholding the university’s mottos and values she said, “I do yeah, because professors look at me like, oh, she’s an athlete she’s got to keep herself together. Representing AUM specifically, I don’t think comes with any extra responsibilities.” According to the AUM Athletics website, Brown led Sequoyah High School to the final four in tenth grade and was state runner-up in volleyball in eleventh and twelfth grade. She now represents AUM as an outside hitter on the volleyball team.
Originally from Canton, Georgia, Brown is currently an AUM freshman majoring in biology pre-health. She plans to attend medical school after AUM, in hopes of becoming an orthopedic surgeon for the NFL or NBA. While Brown was sharing her post-AUM plans, she mentioned the War Hawk Academic Success Center, where she reports her study hours. “We have mandatory four hours of study hall because I am a freshman,” said Brown adding. “So that definitely does help me be like, this is my time I have to do work.” AUM’s Warhawk Academic Success Center’s (WASC) website offers more information as to the services they provide to current AUM students. Services like the Instructional Support Lab and the Learning Center offer free tutoring services, with anything from English to nursing courses. Brown said the WASC has been a tremendous help to her as a student-athlete saying, “There’s a lot of resources and they make sure that you one hundred percent know what they are.”
Brown explained how AUM is constantly sharing what resources are offered to their students. “They are constantly telling you day in and day out like these are your resources, so you never feel lost,” said Brown. AUM provides ways of making sure students are aware of these services. “You know who to contact, you know how to contact them and all that kind of stuff, so that’s definitely a perk here,” she said. The National College Athletic Association conducted a survey in 2021 on students’ mental health, stress levels and overall awareness of mental health. Of the 9,300 students surveyed, 55% of the male athletes and 47% of female athletes agreed their athletics department cared about their mental health. The article goes on to explain that 30% of the women and 22% of the male athletes felt more mentally drained and depressed each day of the school year.
With student-athletes reporting high levels of stress and depression, other universities are offering additional counseling or additional services that are more tailored to athletes. The University of South Dakota’s student newspaper, The Volante, reported this year on the hiring of Tanner Peterson as their new Student-Athlete Mental Health Coordinator post-pandemic. The new hire said he has one mission which is to help student-athletes find the help they need. “When we consider the workload a student carries such as managing a busy schedule, travel, competition, NIL (Name, Image and Likeness policy), transfer portal… The general hardship of becoming a young adult, what our student-athletes manage is truly incredible,” Peterson said. Brown said this support has been offered to her also within her major, biology.
But, Brown said her head coach Flavia Siqueira is the main reason why she chose AUM. “Flavia was really the biggest reason I came to AUM, I loved the way that she coached, I knew she would be brutally honest with me no matter what,” said Brown. She explained this is also the way her mother raised her, creating a sense of familiarity and discipline that she feels is helpful to her academic and athletic career. Brown indicated how AUM shows a passion for protecting their student-athletes’ sense of stability. With services like the WASC and the feeling of family on their team, student-athletes, like Brown, can be seen successfully balancing their time between athletes and academics.
