布兰登·瓦伦丁
Looking for a college with a good academic reputation and a rich community to be a part of, Brandon Valentine ’10 was excited to commit to Rhodes. Although he was initially recruited for 足球, Valentine had a lifelong love of baseball. 幸运的是，在罗兹，他不需要做出选择.
作为两项运动的学生运动员, Valentine created incredible connections with his coaches, 队友, 和教授, so much so that he returned to Rhodes after graduation to be one of the first students to complete the Rhodes Master of Science in Accounting program. Currently an MBA student at Vanderbilt University, Valentine continues to forge strong and meaningful relationships across communities. He greatly values the communication skills he learned at Rhodes that not only proved to be valuable during his time as a graduate assistant for the Rhodes Men’s Baseball team, 他们继续为他提供专业服务, and when reconnecting with his personal alumni network.
下面是更多关于情人节的故事:
人工养殖珍珠:艾丽亚娜一直
I would like to talk to you first about what your recruitment process was like coming to Rhodes. Did you know you wanted to pursue athletics at the next level? How did that experience start your student-athlete life at Rhodes?
布兰登:情人节
作为亚特兰大人，我一生都在运动. It was cool to play athletics at a collegiate level. Rhodes was one of the schools [I looked at] in the South with strong academics and a good community. So that's what got me to commit to Rhodes and start off on the 足球 team. Then I got caught up with the baseball team with Coach Cleanthes and Coach Schrier. 在那之后，我们就开始比赛了.
EM:
Was baseball on your radar when you were looking at Rhodes?
BV:
棒球是我的最爱. 我从小到大都在玩，而且玩得很好. 我来自科布县, 乔治亚州, 哪个是全国棒球中心, 偷偷地在我脑后, I knew I wanted to try to play baseball in college. That was a big goal of mine, so I guess that was part of my decision as well. But no, I wasn't originally supposed to play at Rhodes. I just let them know that I'm pretty good and I'm interested. [The coaches] told me to come out and it was a good time- we clicked. 这就是让我同时做这两件事的原因.
EM:
I know you also got your MS in Accounting at Rhodes. 当大学运动员毕业的时候, there's often a tough transition of going from student-athlete to not playing every single day or not preparing for the next season. 那对你来说是什么感觉?
BV:
That was a lot easier for me than the normal athlete. I had the opportunity to be a graduate assistant for the baseball team while completing my MS in accounting. It was a lot easier for me to transition out than the traditional retired athlete. 我对教练很有热情, 和他们在一起-我是说, 我已经和他们在一起四年了. 我只关心团队. 忙碌能让我保持高效. And baseball was a great opportunity to continue being involved with the campus and the community. It also gave me the opportunity to work on different skills sets that I needed for my professional career as well, which ended up being very useful such as mentoring, 训练, and communicating with people from different age groups. I tried to enjoy the sport a little longer before going into the real world full-time.
EM:
Do you feel like anything that you've learned from your time in athletics has bled over into your professional life? Do you feel like you see that in your everyday work?
BV:
百分之百. Rhodes first and foremost does a great job through the liberal arts education, 通过推动你去谈论一些事情, 参加宗教研究之类的课程, and getting all these requirements that may not align with what you want to do in your career, 或者你的专业本身. But there's so many different pieces that go into becoming a better overall citizen of the world and a better professional in the working world as well.
EM:
How did you overcome issues that you faced during your time as a student-athlete.
BV:
It put me in a position to really manage up and communicate with my coaches, 我的教授, 我的队友, 还有我自己. You have to juggle different things at one time – different personalities, 不同的目标, 不同的团队. 这很困难. But it was great experience that I needed to learn, especially at that stage of my life. 另一件大事是自言自语, 问自己什么是重要的, and how much capacity I have for all the goals that I set.
EM:
Do you have any advice or words of wisdom for recent graduates?
BV:
I think the thing for me is to continue to reach out and keep your relationships as warm as possible. 你知道他们将来会得到回报的, and all it takes is one phone call or an email or a text message. 现在有太多的交流点了. 写一封信. Just let people know that you still care about them. I’m blessed enough to still be in communication with several 队友 from baseball, 足球, 甚至在体育界之外. 这些关系非常有价值, 你不知道这有多珍贵, 信息丰富的, and impactful they are until a couple of years down the road.
EM:
Can you discuss further about your current program at Vanderbilt?
BV:
I'm a full-time MBA student at the university's school of management, 哪个在他们的业务部门. I’m trying to use this to pivot into something external facing and to do more than just accounting and closing the books every month, 每年. 到目前为止，这是一次很棒的经历. I actually have a couple of Rhodes alumni in my program. So it’s been fun to catch up with some fellow alumni. There are other Rhodes Baseball accounting guys who live in Nashville as well, 我们会定期交谈. 他们让我脚踏实地.
埃莉安娜·梅贝，23岁, 365betapp下载发展实习生, is a Media studies major with a Theatre and Religious Studies double minor from 科罗拉多州 Springs, 科罗拉多州.