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Noel is on the men’s soccer team. He is a Health Sciences major with an Allied Health concentration.
“When I was trying to get recruited to play soccer, my goal was to go Division I. I wanted soccer to be my life. But as I progressed through high school and college, I realized that committing to Division III was probably the best option for me. I want to do something else in my life academically and get a job that really suits me. Being a Division III student-athlete has given me the perspective of balancing more things than just athletics.”
“I started as an exercise science major for the first couple of years of college, and then I switched to allied health. I’m looking to go to graduate school, potentially pursuing the medical or physician assistant route. Some of the biggest courses I’ve taken are anatomy and physiology and microbiology, and I’m a teaching assistant for both of those classes. I put a lot of work in academically to get where I am in those classes, and my professors recognized that. They asked me to become a teaching assistant.”
“Professor Canavan is my current advisor. I’ve done an independent research study, and I’ve also helped him with other research for an honors student. I changed advisors to him my second year because I knew I wanted to change my path. He’s helped me get where I want to go and guided me in the right direction."
“I grew up in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, about 35 to 40 minutes from Eastern. Distance was definitely one of the deciding factors because I wanted to stay close to my family. Another factor was affordability. I didn’t want to go into a huge amount of debt at such a young age. I wanted to set myself up financially for the future.”
“Coach DeVito scouted me while I was playing for FSA FC in Farmington, Connecticut. I started looking into playing college soccer during my freshman year of high school. I reached out to coaches, sent emails and put a lot of effort into getting recruited. Eventually, I got into contact with Coach DeVito, and we made it happen.”
“As a student-athlete, you're not only balancing being an athlete and a student, but you’re also balancing your social life. I think it sets you up for the future because you’re always going to have to balance different things, whether it’s your family, your job or the things you enjoy doing in your free time. Learning how to manage all of that is a really valuable lesson.”
“Being part of a team, you have to figure out how to help your teammates and set them up for success. That translates into the classroom because you’re working with peers and classmates, and you want to help them succeed, too. Being on a team isn’t all about you. It's about everybody and figuring out how to work together. That’s especially important in healthcare because you’re working with other people in a clinic or hospital. You have to figure out how to come together and be the most efficient and helpful for your patients.”
“I want to give back to the people who have shown me love throughout my journey, especially my parents, my family and everyone who has supported me. But I also want to help other people who are in need. That’s one of the biggest reasons I want to go into healthcare. I see a lot of people struggling in life, and I want to help them with their health.
“Having compassion and a caring spirit toward your patients is really important. I believe that helps them heal as individuals.”
“The new E represents change for me. In the past couple of years, there’s been a lot of change with the athletic fields and the logos. When athletes see those changes, not just soccer players but everyone, it shows that the school wants to support us and continue improving athletics. There’s definitely a balance between academics and athletics here.”
“I’m 21 years old, so the future is definitely ahead of me, and I’ve been thinking about that a lot. During freshman, sophomore and even junior year, you’re still in college, so you don’t necessarily worry about the future too much. But then senior year hits, and you realize this is a major transition. You’re going from something you’ve been doing your whole life, which is school, into the real world, where you have to decide what you’re going to do. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into that, and I don’t have a concrete answer yet.
“But I want to be somebody who’s always learning. Not necessarily academically, but learning how to build and strengthen relationships, care for other people and better myself as a human being. I want to be someone who can be strong and provide for my family and friends.”
“I’m trying to create a life where I don’t feel like I have to follow one specific path. I want the freedom to explore different opportunities. One thing I really want to do is travel, so I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate that into my career and family life.”
“I think you get the best of a lot of worlds. I’m not going to say both worlds because it's not just two. It comes down to balance for me. Whether you want to be an athlete, a student or both, there are a lot of opportunities here. Academically, you can explore so many different disciplines, whether it’s finance, health sciences or the arts. Eastern isn’t a place where you come to do just one specific thing. You come here to explore your options, see what works best for you and figure out what you want for your future.”