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.

Blake Oliveira (R-Jr., Maryville, Tenn.)
Sport: Football
Major: Nursing (3.74 GPA)

Why did you choose to major in nursing?
BO – "I originally wanted to be a doctor, but after I thought about it I decided nursing was more along the lines of what I want to do because the nurse is really like the quarterback of healthcare. The doctor prescribes and ultimately makes the diagnosis, but the nurse is the one that gets to interact the most with the patient. Also, I want to eventually become a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist). It also helps to not have to go to medical school for a good chunk of my life."

What do you hope to do after graduating from The Citadel?
BO – "Right after graduation, I'm not sure if in Charleston or I might go back home to Tennessee, but I want to get a direct admission to the ICU. It's really difficult to get into ICU right out of graduation, but I think between The Citadel and my background as a cadet student-athlete, it will help. I want to work in the ICU for about two years because that's a prerequisite for getting into the CRNA program, so after a few years in the ICU, then it's a 36-month program for the nurse of anesthesia, and that's my end goal."

Outside of your classes, what are you doing to prepare for your career?
BO – "We started clinicals last year and we've already done an adult health clinical on a (medical surgical) floor at Roper Hospital. Right now, I'm actually doing two clinicals a week. On Wednesdays, I go from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Roper, now I'm on the orthopedic surgery floor. On Fridays, I go to Palmetto Behavioral Health – it's a mental health institution – and I do that from 7 a.m. 1 p.m. Clinicals are basically built-in job shadows and built in internships. With football, I'm not really able to do internships and job shadows, so this makes it a lot easier. I have a friend who plays football at Lindsey Wilson College – it's an NAIA school in Kentucky – and he's also a nursing major, so we both have the same life when it comes to most things. He's staying home in Tennessee this summer and following an anesthesiologist all summer, so I've been thinking about seeing if I can make that work to join him on that, but we stay here during the summer for football workouts, so I don't know how that might work out. I'll have to talk to Coach about that."

Do you hold rank in the Corps? What are your responsibilities associated with that role?
BO – "I just applied for academic officer. I was a corporal last year, but I didn't do any rank this year because I wanted to focus on schoolwork and football. But I applied for academic officer and I think I have a good shot at it because of my GPA and everything. So, hopefully I'll get that. As a corporal, you have a squad of three or four freshmen who you make sure their uniforms look good, and you make sure they know all their knob knowledge. But the academic officer is a little more influential because anytime someone misses a class, you have to talk to them to figure out why they missed it and put it through the system. You monitor the company's GPA, and if I get it, I'd like to institute a study hall for my company because our athletes already have a study hall every week, and anybody in the company who has below a 2.5 GPA would have to go to the study hall. So, that officer has a bit more influence and impact on the company."

Talk a little more about juggling all of your responsibilities within the Corps, with the football team, and your class schedule.
BO – "At first it was really difficult, especially freshman year because you have the Corps demands on top of football and studying, but I knew that if I was disciplined and did everything I had to do in a timely manner, I could figure it out. Now when I wake up, I just take mental note of what I have to get done during the day. I know I'm committing 7 – 11 p.m. to straight studying, so that's where I put all of my nursing and academic thought and energy. During the day in my classes, I try to take hand-written notes so I remember things better. And with football, it's just kind of toughness thing because sometimes you have to wake up at 5:45 a.m. four days in a row and it's exhausting, but it starts to come naturally after you do it for so many years."

What would you say is the most difficult part of being a cadet student-athlete?
BO – "Probably the physical exhaustion. A great example is during winter workouts I would wake up at 5 a.m. on Wednesdays to get a workout in, and once I was done with that, I was jumping into a friend's car to get to the hospital for an eight-hour shift. That alone was exhausting, and I had a similar schedule on Fridays, except I would wake up at 7 a.m. and go the mental health hospital and work until around 1, and as soon as I was done, I would have my friend drop me off outside Seignious Hall and I would run up, change and get my workout in. Nursing is exhausting all by itself because you're on your feet the entire shift and you have to devote your mental energy on your patients, so just add that to football and it's all around exhausting."

What is one thing that you will remember down the road about your time at The Citadel?
BO – "I would have to say summer workouts when (the football team) stays in Charleston and none of the other teams or rest of the Corps are on campus. It's just really cool because you go from the rigorous daily schedule with all the rules, but over the summer there are 100-plus of us guys and we're growing beards out and we're going to the beach after workouts and you can see everybody's personality really come out then. It's just something great to look forward to each year."


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