Sept. 29, 2009
Photo Gallery
Each week, the staff at GoLeopards.com spotlights a student-athlete in a Q&A feature for the website. This week, we caught up with senior softball player Jessika Smith, who talked about leadership, roadtrips and more.
How did you spend your summer? Did you do any internships, travel anywhere, workout for softball? I spent my summer interning on Long Island with the Construction & Realty Services Group (CRSG), an engineering consulting firm. My primary responsibility was developing a Structural Tests and Special Inspections Protocol to standardize the company's construction inspection process. I also used the time away from Lafayette to prepare for my senior year both on and off the softball field. I honed leadership skills and worked out at Professional Athletic Rehab and Training Facility in Garden City (New York). I ended my summer with a weeklong cruise to the Bahamas with my boyfriend!
What's your major and what do you like about your major? My major is AB Engineering or Engineering Studies within which I have focused specifically in Civil Engineering. I am also obtaining a minor in Business and Economics. I like my major because it allows me to select classes that I want to take and design my degree to better prepare me for my future.
What class are you most looking forward to this semester? This semester I am looking forward to my African Cultural Institutions class. The course is the first of its kind that I've taken in a while! It's a humanities/social science course so it's not based as highly on numbers and hard facts as my other engineering/science/math courses. It allows for creative thinking and discussions of opinions within the classroom.
What is your role on the team? I currently put myself in a leadership position on our team. As a senior, I can tell players are looking up to me and the other members of my class. I also view myself as a mentor. After three years, I've "been there and done that," and I feel that sharing those experiences with the other members of my team will allow them to grow and help guide them.
What is your earliest softball memory? Wow! - I would honestly have to say my earliest softball memory was "throwing" a softball with my Aunt Kim at the football field across the street from my old house. She and my father coached my first team ever, the Dormont Bandits!
Do you model yourself after any particular player? I wouldn't say that I model myself after a particular player, but I try to incorporate various different aspects of their game in an effort to perfect mine.
What can you take from your sport and incorporate into everyday life? I think striving for goals I feel strongly about is a philosophy that I carry into my everyday life. On the field if I'm not performing at a level that I'm happy with, I push myself even harder until I perfect my game. Off the field, I set goals and high standards for myself and do everything within my power to accomplish them and more.
My pregame ritual is... a secret! :)
The sport I'm worst at is... Gymnastics! I used to be a cheerleader and tumbling was never an issue until I got a compression fracture in my back. Now I stick to cartwheels.
Something about me that others would be surprised to hear is... I'm a pretty open person, but when it comes to emotional stuff, I'm a closed book.
What is your favorite roadtrip (college or otherwise) and why? Softball related - my freshman year trip up to Colgate! We stayed in cabins, and when we pulled up to the place there were six women dancing around a fire pit banging on drums. Our wake-up was at 6 a.m. when the Christian school group that was also staying there walked around singing "Rise and shine, give God your glory, glory!"
...did I mention it was my birthday weekend?
What is your favorite activity outside of your sport? Why? Sleeping - because I feel like I never get enough.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself? Why? Michele Rodriguez - have you seen The Fast and the Furious!?! ;) Or, Sandra Bullock - just because I love her as an actress!
TV show I can't stop watching... House & SVU
Song I can't stop listening to... Right now, Beyonce - Ego
Go-to karaoke song? Build Me Up Buttercup!
What is the greatest thing you can learn from a loss? Your weaknesses.
What do you still wish to accomplish? In the future I'd like to obtain my Masters in engineering and become a licensed PE while working for a major construction firm. I also plan to get married and have a family.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Hong Kong
You have an entire day to do whatever you want. Where do you go and what do you do? I'd sleep in, make myself breakfast for lunch, work out, shower, spend time with my friends shopping/watching TV/relaxing, and eventually end up at Milo's or a similar social establishment.
What's been your most interesting out-of-classroom academic experience? Junior year, for my Engineering and Public Policy class we had to make a podcast on a topic being discussed during the upcoming presidential election. For the project my group traveled all over the Lehigh Valley area filming, doing interviews with public officials and interacting with residents - I learned a lot about our topic, but even more about the Lehigh Valley in general.
Have you done any internships, externships, etc.? Several. I've interned at Victaulic in Forks Township for course credit my junior year. I participated in the extern program during winter break my junior year, and spent time with a Lafayette Alumni working for Turner Construction in NYC. And this past summer, I interned at an engineering consulting firm on Long Island: Construction Realty Services Group (CRSG).
Word Association:
Lafayette: Prestigious
Lafayette Athletics: Dominant
Softball: Competitive
Early morning practices: Naps
Your coaches: Aggressive
Your teammates: Driven
Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry: Cutthroat, tradition
Preseason: 6 a.m.'s, cone drills
Strength & Conditioning Coaches: Intense
