A Day in the Life of a Florida Tech Scholar-Athlete

The decision of where to attend college is an important one for students. Numerous factors go into the final choice, including location, academics and even the campus dining options.

However, there is another aspect of university life that can play a part in a student’s pick: athletics.

An NCAA Division II school, Florida Tech not only offers an exceptional education, but also boasts 15 men’s and women’s teams that compete in the prestigious Sunshine State Conference.

Having to balance rigorous coursework with a high-level sport is no easy feat. But what does a day in the life of a Florida Tech scholar athlete really look like?

We talked with a few Panthers from different sports to find out.

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Freshman: Marshall Burke, Baseball

Marshall Burke begins his morning with a 9 a.m. calculus class.

“I came to Florida Tech on an academic visit,” he says. “I had a break from school, and my brother goes to school in St. Augustine, so I drove down the coast and looked at all the schools. I scheduled an academic meeting because I saw what this school was doing in and for the future. The placement rate was big for me, and I fell in love with the coast—fell in love with Florida.”

Marshall is originally from Kingwood, Texas.

He follows calculus up with two more classes related to his ocean engineering major. He then takes a short break to eat before heading to baseball practice from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“It’s something I’ve always done,” says Marshall, as he thinks about why he loves the sport. “I don’t really know any better. My dad played baseball, and my brother plays baseball, so it’s kind of just been part of my life. It’s just something I love and that I’ve always loved.”

Marshall has another short break after practice before his weightlifting session at 5 p.m.

“Time management is a huge thing,” he says. “Fitting all the things in my schedule and doing them as best as possible is a hard thing that you have to learn.”

Marshall is also involved with the Melbourne chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

As the end of fall nears and winter approaches, baseball scrimmages begin. If it’s a Thursday or Friday, Marshall leaves his lifting session and goes to scrimmage from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“The coaches are very good,” Marshall says. “One of the first meetings we had, they said, ‘I’m not here for baseball, I’m here for you.’ That was big, and it kind of grows a relationship with your coaches, knowing that they’re not just a coach, but they know you’re a human being.”

After practice or scrimmage, Marshall heads home to work on any assignments and study before going to sleep.

“You have to put academics first because baseball is not something that’s going to last,” he says. “I’ve always been hands-on my whole entire life. I knew I wanted to be in some sort of engineering or construction management. I’ve always loved the ocean—always going to the beach my whole entire life. So ocean engineering fits.”

While in high school, Marshall was the lead designer and architect on a two-year project that involved building a tiny house for a homeless veteran. The experience sparked his love of leading and hands-on creating.

Sophomore: Carter Batt, Lacrosse

Carter Batt wakes up to the sound of his alarm at 6 a.m.

Getting out of bed, he heads to the Varsity Training Center Field for a 7:30 a.m. men’s lacrosse practice, which he has five days a week.

“I originally started playing lacrosse when I was in fifth grade,” he remembers. “My uncle had brought lacrosse to my area in southwest Michigan. Every Christmas, he and my cousin always pestered me saying, ‘Come on, just try it.’ I was just a big football kid. Finally, I decided to do it, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Carter chose Florida Tech for the aerospace engineering program, the high-level lacrosse program and, as someone who prefers the beach to the snow, the location.

After practice, Carter heads to the Panther Dining Hall to eat breakfast before heading home to prepare for his first class at 11 a.m.

“I’ve always been a science kid my whole life,” he says. “I knew I wanted to help people and work with my hands, and I’ve always loved space. I kind of combined my love for space and rockets with my love for making, designing and building, and then I came across Florida Tech. I put the things I love together and came out with aerospace engineering.”

Carter usually has three to four classes each day, fitting lunch or a snack from PDH in between. If it’s a Monday, Tuesday or Friday, he has a weightlifting session at 2 p.m.

“You have to work hard to play a sport,” he says. “It takes up a lot of your day, whether that’s practice, lift, extra meetings, extra work on the field. If I wasn’t an athlete, I could be getting up at any time. Having that instilled in me at this point—it’s just what I do. That’s just what life is. So, it kind of starts to instill those traits when you still have a bit of a cushion, because I’m still a student.”

Afterward, Carter heads back to PDH for another meal and to relax with his friends, a support system he has thanks in part to the lacrosse team.

“Our coaches are always there whenever you need,” he says. “If I have a problem, I can always go to them and can always fall back on them. They’re always going to have my back and have a plan of what I should do next.”

After eating, Carter heads to the library to complete schoolwork or study for a test that may be coming up.

“At the end of the day, academics is super important,” he says. “Being a scholar-athlete, to me, is being kind of a role model on campus. Being an athlete with our student population—there’s not a ton of athletes compared to nonathletes. I have to be able to stay up with my studies just like the rest of the population, but I also want to shine in the athletics itself.”

In the future, Carter would like to join Florida Tech’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to continue being a leader in the community and help support other scholar-athletes in all aspects of their college experience.

After completing as much work as he can, Carter heads home for the day to cook dinner and relax before going to bed and doing it all over again tomorrow.

“Don’t be afraid to take a harder major,” he advises future Panthers. “Just stay on top of your work, and get help when you need it. Someone has been in your shoes at one point, so don’t be afraid of the challenge that going through an engineering degree and playing a high-level sport in college brings you.”

Junior: Debora Xavier, Swimming

“It’s part of who I am,” she says, as she considers why she swims. “I love swimming because it shows me how much I can do. It shows me how much potential I have, not just in school but in something else.”

Debora Xavier dives into the pool at the Panther Aquatic Center at 5:30 a.m. almost every day for swim practice.

After morning practice, Debora usually heads back home to get a bit more rest before eating and heading to her hourlong weightlifting session.

“I chose Florida Tech because I wanted to be in a place where it’s warm, and where I could be successful in my swimming,” she says. “I really like the coaches here. The way they talk and make adjustments to practice, and they like to meet up and get to know you better. I know it’s a cliche, but it’s more like a family than just a team.”

Once she’s done lifting, Debora grabs another bite to eat and then heads to her psychology classes for the day.

“There was a sports psychologist who helped me a lot,” she says. “I understood that I can do whatever I want to do if I just train my brain to do it—it doesn’t matter how hard it is. I want to help all athletes like that.”

Once classes are finished, Debora heads back to the pool to continue practicing from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

“With swimming, I learned with my own experience about athletes and our mental health,” she says. “With school, I learned about the clinical side and how to approach the problems I see with my experience. Florida Tech is really good about research, and I’ve learned a lot of things I didn’t know before.”

After her second practice, Debora heads home to work on her assignments and get some rest.

“If you’re looking for a high-achievement school—having higher-thinking classes and also having higher-level practice—I think this is the best place to be,” she says.

Debora also serves as the vice president of BRASA, Florida Tech’s Brazilian Student Association, and is a leader with the Melbourne chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Senior: Josianne Keenan, Volleyball

Josianne Keenan likes to wake up before the sun and watch it rise at the beach.

After, she goes for “just a 3-mile run” before lifting weights for an hour to train for her sport: volleyball.

“Why do I love volleyball?” She asks. “Well, I’ve been playing since I was in, I think, sixth grade, which is kind of late for sports. I’ve always played basketball. We’re a basketball family. So once I was introduced to volleyball, it was kind of my thing. It’s a really easy and fun escape from stressors, and that feeling hasn’t changed.”

Josianne is the daughter of Florida Tech basketball alumni Christina (Ferron) Keenan ’93 and Brian Keenan ’93.

After weightlifting, Josianne heads home to change, and then she meets one of her teammates for lunch before heading to class at noon.

“When I first came here, I was a biomedical science major,” she says. “I’m pretty good at math and science, so it’s not that I was struggling. But let’s say I was studying for a genetics test—all I wanted to do was go take photos and make content. That’s when I looked into different majors here, and multiplatform journalism seemed to fit the criteria.”

After her afternoon class, Josianne makes her way to the Athletic Communications Department, where she works part time as a student assistant and photographer.

“They showed me the ins and outs of how to create content for the niche of sports rather than in general with my major,” she says. “They introduced me to what it’s like working in sports and collegiate athletics, especially with deadlines, what’s right for the audience, the creative eye of things and stuff like that.”

These skills helped Josianne land internships with the Rochester Red Wings, a minor league baseball team, over the summer and the Jacksonville Jaguars this fall.

If it’s a Tuesday, she heads to the newsroom at the Florida Tech Crimson, where she’s the editor-in-chief, to meet with writers at 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

“Balancing practice, class, the Crimson—all that stuff—I think that’ll help me in the future when I have a job in sports media and balancing deadlines, editing cues, stuff like that,” she says. “Hopefully, it’ll bring me up to an advantage, but we’ll see.”

At 5 p.m., she either goes to class or volleyball practice—unless it’s a Thursday, in which case you can find her playing the violin in Orchestra, followed by volleyball practice from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and then dinner with her teammates.

“I take a lot of pride in being a scholar-athlete, because not many people get to do what scholar-athletes do, let alone play a collegiate sport in college,” she says. “I tore my ACL right before my freshman year of college, so I thought I was never going to play again. Having that reintroduced into my life was the best thing ever. It was nice being a part of a team again.”

If there’s a game, she goes to take photos for the Athletics Department. Then, Josianne heads home, completes some schoolwork and gets some sleep.

“I think with Florida Tech, specifically, compared to other Division II and Division III schools, this is such a competitive conference,” she says. “I think it’s a great opportunity if you’re an athlete because it is just so competitive in that every game is kind of a battle, and none of them come easy. But I think that’s the best part of sports. As far as coming to Florida Tech and being an athlete, I think the community itself is so supportive, and I have met the best people, both coaches, staff and athletes.”

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