CHARLESTON, SC – The average cadet student-athlete at The Citadel is anything but average. They're members of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets. They go to class. They compete against the best the Southern Conference has to offer.

And for some, that's not enough. Many cadet student-athletes take an even less traveled path by majoring in unique or tough fields of study. Some come from unique backgrounds that make the already difficult even more so.

The Citadel Department of Athletics wants to recognize some of those cadet student-athletes who are not just succeeding in competition, but are doing so at a high level while overcoming some of the toughest obstacles.

Austin Blakely (R-So., Florence, S.C.)
Sport: Baseball
Major: Nursing (3.63 GPA)

Why did you choose to major in nursing?
AB – "I have several family members who are in the medical field, but this is what really drove me to making that decision. The summer between my senior year of high school, going into college, my dad got really sick and spent two-and-a-half months in the hospital, and he was in the ICU the entire time. Being around those nurses all the time, it was a really eye-opening experience and made me realize that this is what I want to do. I want to help people."

What do you hope to do after graduating from The Citadel?
AB – "I'm very proud of where I'm from, so I'm definitely going back to Florence. I plan on going back home and getting a job for either the new MUSC or McLeod Hospital. I would like to be an ICU nurse at first."

Outside of your classes, what are you doing to prepare for your career?
AB – "I keep in touch with a lot of people who live in the area and are in the medical field. For instance, I have an old baseball pitching coach who worked at MCLeod. I eventually want to become a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist), and I have a buddy who's mom is a CRNA, so just keeping in touch with them and learning as much as I can from talking to them."

Do you hold rank in the Corps? What are your responsibilities associated with that role?
AB – "I am a squad sergeant. I hold my squad responsible on a daily basis. We have seniors, juniors, sophomores and a couple of freshmen, and I have to not only make sure that they look good, but that they are up to the school's standards. At the same time, I have to make sure that I set the right example and hold myself accountable to those standards as well."

Talk a little more about juggling all of your responsibilities within the Corps, with the baseball team, and your class schedule.
AB – "My days can be just about as busy as it gets. Most days I'm up no later than 6 a.m. and I'm not getting back into bed until 11 or 11:30 every night. It really depends on the day. If it's a clinical day, I'll get up at 5:30 and have to be at the hospital before 7. I'll get done with that anywhere between 2–4 p.m. After that, I'm rushing back to school to get ready for practice. After practice, you're rushing over to try to make it for dinner, and after dinner you try to get all your homework done and try to get a little ahead. It's very busy, but it just depends on the day. It definitely helps knowing there are other (cadet student-athletes) in the program with me. Just being able to talk to them and knowing we're all on the same page for what we have to get done, because we're all basically on the same schedule as far as classes, clinicals, practices and lifts. Being able to talk to (the other cadet student-athletes) and helping each other remember things is really beneficial."

What would you say is the most difficult part of being a cadet student-athlete?
AB – "Time. You really don't have a lot of extra time for other activities. It's awesome and I love it, I wouldn't want to have it any other way. I am definitely enjoying my time on the baseball field, in the Corps and my major, but you don't really have time to do anything else outside of these walls like hang out with your family, friends, that kind of thing. This has been my life for the last three years. That's one thing that I have struggled with at times, but it's going to help me get to where I want to be, and I'm thankful for that."

What is one thing that you will remember down the road about your time at The Citadel?
AB – "My roommate is a regular cadet, but he's a nursing major with me. We'll wake up extra early for clinicals on Wednesday mornings and we'll both be like, 'This is awful. I don't want to do this.' But after doing it last week, we already look back and say, 'Well, that wasn't really that bad.' I'm sure we'll look back at this 20 years down the road and we'll be able to have the same conversation about how it may have seemed terrible at the time, but look at where we ended up."


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