Justin Pratt - Football

Justin Pratt is a senior captain on the Carnegie Mellon football team. Justin is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering and will graduate in May.

When I was a senior in high school looking at colleges, playing football at the highest division possible was my first priority. Even though I was also interested in engineering, Carnegie Mellon was not at the top of my list of universities. Still, CMU football Coach Rich Lackner would make frequent visits to my high school in Bethel Park, Pa., eagerly advocating Carnegie Mellon as the right choice for me. Naturally I was doubtful, but it became clearer and clearer that none of the universities I was looking at for football came with a competitive engineering school like Carnegie Mellon. I had to think long and hard about where I wanted to go to college. Finally, after seeing the rich tradition in both academics and athletics that CMU has, I decided to come here. I’ve never looked back on my decision.

Since making that decision four years ago, I’ve been able to experience a lot of things that you would not be able to at any average school. It’s not just the fact that I will soon have an undergraduate degree in engineering at a world class university. While I’ve been here, I’ve had the privilege of winning an ECAC bowl game along with continuing the winning tradition that is Carnegie Mellon Football. The opponents that we have played have come from all over, ranging from Randolph-Macon in Virginia to Washington University in St. Louis. It has been a great experience getting to travel all over, which most DIII football programs do not get to do. I’ve been able to attend multiple leadership symposiums put on by the athletics department and CMU Athletics alumni. Last year, I had the honor of being one of two athletes selected by Carnegie Mellon to go to the annual NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas. I’ve been able to apply what I’ve learned from these conferences in different settings, on and off the field. The symposiums helped me to take on my duties as a captain this year, but they’ve also prepared me for real world experiences.

The road of being a student athlete at a top academic university is not an easy one, but I would have to say it is a rewarding one. The people you meet and the things you experience cannot be replicated in any other aspect of life. If I could go back on some of the decisions I’ve made, both in choosing a school and what I’ve done since I’ve been here, I wouldn’t change a thing. Even though I could never have imagined it in high school, Carnegie Mellon has turned out to be the perfect school for me. The lessons that I have learned through my years at Carnegie Mellon have not only prepared me to lead our football team this year, they will stay with me through the rest of my life.