Upon the eve of their graduation, four UCLA athletes received an unusual honor ““ the Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship.
The prize rewards those who have excelled in academics, athletics and leadership during their undergraduate careers, and who intend to continue their studies with graduate or professional school.
The scholarship allots $3,000 each to the athletes chosen, and it must be used within three years of completing their undergraduate degree.
“Generally, as students come in and start talking to me about the scholarships, we start giving them information,” said Ric Coy, the assistant director of student services for UCLA’s athletic department. “We have student-athletes who are definitely very proactive in looking for these scholarships. Our academic counselors and coaches nominate … students that they know of specifically that are going on to postgraduate work.”
UCLA staff, who chooses the recipients, has a unique influence on these awards, which the Pac-12 allots four of to each school in the conference to assign as they choose. Coy said student interest, financial need and many other factors are considered when selecting recipients.
Mark Weber, who studied political science while at UCLA, received the award after completing his redshirt senior season with the track and field team.
“It’s a … motivation. When I realized what I was going to have to pay when I was done, honestly, grad school kind of seemed like it was not really in my immediate future,” Weber said.
“But now that I applied for this and I actually received it, it’s kind of motivating me to get the ball rolling on that. Basically, (I’m) going back to school sooner than I thought I would have.”
At UCLA’s first-ever student-athlete commencement ceremony, Weber was presented his award along with women’s soccer’s Charney Burk, men’s tennis’ Nick Meister and softball’s Brooke Finley.
In order to qualify for the Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship, athletes must graduate with at least a 3.0 grade-point average, and intend to continue their education. Also, they must demonstrate leadership qualities at the varsity level as an important member of their respective teams.
“(The scholarship) is not as much for your performance in your sport,” Finley said. “It was more for involvement in UCLA community, and impact on your team more from … a leadership standpoint.”
Unlike the scholarships that helped them through UCLA, the Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarships were awarded to athletes who showed a commitment to both school and extracurricular activities.
In addition to working, training and academics, Weber also volunteered with Marathon Kids, a nonprofit organization that encourages children to develop healthy habits in a community environment.
Weber said having such a busy schedule was actually beneficial, giving him skills that he will utilize long past graduation.
“I know that having three things on my plate, with school, work and track … developed my time management skills,” Weber said. “It actually helped keep my GPA up.”
Weber is still undecided about his post-graduate plans; however, the scholarship allots three years for the athletes to choose their path. He said he is going to choose between law school and business school, and is interested in specializing in the entertainment industry.
Finley, who also majored in political science, plans to continue her education at the University of San Diego Law School. She said she wants to concentrate in sports law, particularly in contract and arbitration negotiations associated with managing teams and athletes.
“I was really excited to have won this award,” Finley said. “It was important to me when I was picking a law school. I really didn’t want to graduate with any sort of student loans or any sort of debt because I didn’t graduate (from) my undergrad with any.”
Finley also received a merit scholarship from USD as well as the NCAA Women’s Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship.
“The (NCAA) scholarship is awarded to females going into some sort of field in athletics,” Coy said. “Her specific area is going to be law, somewhere in the field of baseball, (which) is what she’s interested in.”
With the help of these awards, Finley has a full ride to USD Law ““ an accomplishment which speaks to the fact that UCLA athletes are expected to excel in academics as well as in their sport.
“The coaches definitely stress the fact that student comes before athlete,” Weber said. “They really want us to graduate. They really want us to develop as people and not just as athletes.”