Jennifer Larsen - Women's Basketball

Jennifer Larsen is a captain for the 2011-12 Carnegie Mellon women's basketball team. Jennifer is a psychology major and is currently fourth on the team in scoring averaging 7.4 points a game and second in rebounding with 6.4 rebounds a game.

Arriving at college as a freshman can be an anxiety-provoking experience for many individuals, including myself. Coming from a high school where I knew all of my classmates and knew what to expect from my classes, I was intimidated by the prospect of starting fresh. To enter a world where everything was new, it was comforting for me to continue with something familiar: basketball. My worries about making friends were quickly settled when I met a team of girls who shared many of my interests. Regardless of where we were from, what our majors were, or what dorms we lived in, we all loved to play basketball. Even for the shyest freshman (me), it was impossible not to become close with the girls I spent several hours with every day. As a senior looking back on my freshman year, it is funny to think that I ever felt shy around my new teammates. My teammates, past and present, are my closest friends and I know that they will be for life.

The best part about being an athlete at Carnegie Mellon is that this network of like-minded individuals does not stop with my team. Managing the responsibilities of being both a student and an athlete at a university that is highly competitive in both domains is not an easy feat, and having a close-knit community of student-athletes that can relate is encouraging. Whenever I have struggled in a class, it has never been difficult to find another athlete who understands where I am coming from and who is happy to help. Beyond the student-athletes, the athletic community at Carnegie Mellon is full of coaches and administrators who are dedicated to helping all of us excel both on the court (or field, track, etc.) and in the classroom. Many of my professors have even been eager to support my athletic endeavors. Just last week I had to miss a couple of classes to travel for games, and on Monday morning my professors sought me out to ask how my team played.

I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to play basketball at Carnegie Mellon. I have had the opportunity to travel to great cities all over the country. I have built relationships with coaches and professors who are wholeheartedly invested in my success as a student-athlete. I have received a world-class education from a prestigious university. And, above all, I have made life-long friends with whom I can reminisce on four years of great times on and off the court.