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 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.

Caricia Rodriguez (Sr., Naperville, Ill.)
Sport: Volleyball
Major: Nursing (3.64 GPA)

Why did you choose to major in nursing?
CR – "I want to help people. I really like the medical field, but I didn't want to go to med school, so it just worked out that way. And I also had a lot of family in and out of the hospital growing up, so the care that I received and my family received, I want to give that back to other people."

Talk a little about earning the Palmetto Gold Scholarship in 2018 and what that meant to you.
CR – "They could only select one student from our school, and then they sent it in. It was a great recognition for leadership, helping others and doing really well within the nursing major. It was a really cool experience and it was just awesome. The application I wrote for it was very meaningful for me, so it was nice that it paid off."

What do you hope to do after graduating from The Citadel?
CR – "I want to go straight into nursing. My biggest goal right now is to get a job at Duke because it is one of the most prestigious hospitals around. Having a job before graduation is my main goal right now. I have no clue what field I want to be in because there are so many different ways to go with nursing, it's hard. At Duke, they have a residency program where you do a year as a supervised nurse for three or six months and then you go by yourself, but you still have classes and programs that you do with the residency group. That's what I want to do, but they have very select areas that they do this in, so I have a little bit of a broader pool to choose from, but I think they let you apply to up to three, so I'll do that and see how it goes."

Outside of your classes, what are you doing to prepare for your career?
CR – "I applied for an internship this past summer, but I did not get it. That experience with the interviews and the entire application process is going to help me with this round so I have better cues on what to work on. Here soon, I'm going to start gathering everything I need to know and start studying for the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination)."

Do you hold rank in the Corps? What are your responsibilities associated with that role?
CR – "I am a platoon leader and I am in charge of between 30 and 40 cadets, making sure they look good, making sure they are where they need to be on time, making sure everything is in order. I also have to delegate responsibilities to the squad leaders and everyone else that holds a lower rank. My biggest thing is that I have wanted to build relationships with my classmates because I know that athletes sometimes go about their day and can seem separate from the rest of the Corps. It's something that I have really enjoyed doing, so I will have friends outside of my team. I didn't want to graduate from college without those types of relationships."

Talk a little more about juggling all of your responsibilities within the Corps, with the volleyball team, and your class schedule.
CR – "The biggest thing that I have to do for myself is sectionalize my day and make sure that my time management is on point. I have a daily planner that is all written up with everything. I also like sticky notes, I have so many sticky notes all over my room all the time because I write out what I need to do in an order and I'll stick it up and cross things off. For me, it's mostly just making lists and making sure I know what all I have to do so I don't forget anything."

What would you say is the most difficult part of being a cadet student-athlete?
CR – "Especially on the volleyball team, we hold ourselves to a higher standard academically and within the Corps, so for me the hardest thing to do is reminding myself that I am human. It's okay to be stressed. It's okay to be worried. It's okay to get a bad grade here or there on tests. I hold myself to such a high standard that if I get a C on a test or assignment, I freak out and make it out like it's the end of the world. But I have to sit there and remind myself that everything is going to be fine, bad grades are going to happen sometimes."

What is one thing that will stick with you down the road about your time at The Citadel?
CR – "I think the biggest memory for me was my freshman year our team traveled to Alabama for a tournament and we stayed at one of our teammate's house. They had a pool, and the last day that we were there, it was Sarah (Dobrich), Autumn (Bennet), Jen (Barbot) and me, and we were the entire freshman class. We were just sitting there out by the pool, talking about everything, and I stopped and said, 'Y'all, we're going to remember this forever.' It was a big moment because of how things played out from there. It was right before some injuries happened and it was a big moment for us because things have just changed so much over the years."


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