Fowler Student Athlete’s Lessons in Leadership Pay Off in the Pool and the Classroom
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2024 has been a busy year for SDSU student-athlete Alex Roberts. For the second consecutive year, she competed in the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships. She was also honored once again as SDSU’s Female Athlete of the Year and the Mountain West Swimmer of the Year.
Despite all of the demands that come along with being a top collegiate swimmer and diver, she’s remained dedicated to her studies. Roberts, a senior at the Fowler College of Business, has been named an SDSU scholar-athlete and she will earn her bachelor’s degree in management this summer.
“I’m pursuing a management degree because in everything I do, I always assume a leadership role,” said Roberts, “My management degree will help me build on that and give me the tools to run my own business someday.”
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As a leader and co-captain of the women’s swimming and dive team, Roberts recently competed in the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke at the NCAA championships this spring. During the 200-yard backstroke, she set both an SDSU and a Mountain West record, finishing 19th overall.
Lessons in leadership have impacted Roberts both in the water and in the classroom. She aims to inspire her younger teammates and has made a point of learning how to be a successful leader in the classroom as well. She said her favorite class is Leadership in Organizations (MGT 475) taught by Derek Young. “This leadership class has valuable information that is applicable to many areas of life,” said Roberts. “Professor Young teaches it in an engaging way, so it’s impossible not to pay attention. He makes the content easy to grasp and memorable.”
Though she earns her B.S. this summer, Roberts will not be finished with her classes at SDSU. She will continue her education this fall by enrolling in SDSU’s advanced certificate program for data science, after which, she plans to take some time off to rest and travel.
Roberts credits the “important people in my life who believed in me” to help her accomplish her athletic and academic milestones. “Joseph Spahn (associate head coach for SDSU’s swimming and diving team) said ‘You can go further than you think.’ I think about this quote a lot because our minds tend to limit what we think is achievable. But I’ve accomplished so much more than I ever thought I would because I was able to expand my thinking and aim higher.”
