Academic All-American success: Why Calvin University is a top choice for student-athletes
When Aerin Baker (Saugatuck, Mich.) was looking at where to go to college, she wanted really robust academics and a place she could play volleyball at a high level.
Now, as she finishes up her senior year at Calvin University, it’s clear she made the right choice. Look no further than the prestigious national honor she received earlier this month, being named a Second Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators.
A track record of success
“It’s such an honor, a testament to how Calvin has built up its rapport between academics and athletics,” said Baker.
Baker, a chemistry major, is one of two Calvin students who were honored this fall as Academic All-Americans, and she joins a long list of previous student-athletes to receive the award. In fact, Calvin is among the Top 25 across all NCAA Divisions when it comes to earning Academic All-American honors.
“The coaches and professors at Calvin have built relationships with one another and all previous student athletes have shown that we can keep up the work,” said Baker.
Coaches and professors on the student's team
For Baker, getting to this point was a team effort. And it started on her first visit to campus when her volleyball coach, Amber Warners, facilitated Baker meeting with biochem profs and learning about the summer undergraduate research program.
As Baker began to compete on the volleyball court and achieve a high level of success there, she also began to fall in love with inorganic chemistry.
Developing a deeper passion
“To explore the amazing beauty of chemistry through the lens of faith, the beautiful things God has created for us to study and figure out, that brings me a lot of joy,” said Baker.
So Baker dove deep into her academic journey, got a taste of research in her first-year as a member of the Phage Research program, and then the doors to more opportunities began to open.
“My gen chem prof learned I had done dual-enrollment math in high school, and he introduced himself and his lab where he was doing more math than most chemists,” said Baker. “That intrigued me. I already liked general chemistry class, so he said, ‘you should look at my lab.’ I loved it. I got to see how math and chemistry were intertwined. Calvin gives so many opportunities through its summer research program that students couldn’t even begin to imagine at any other school.”
Opportunities abound
Those opportunities were vast for Baker and even included her collaborating on research with a lab in Switzerland in the summer after her first year at Calvin. At the end of the research project, she was able to travel abroad with her research team from Calvin and meet the team she’d been collaborating with in Europe. And that was just the beginning. She would also earn a prestigious Goldwater Scholar award—the most prestigious award given to undergraduates in STEM and would present at the American Chemical Society's National Meeting after her sophomore year—something that yet again proved to be a team effort.
“The conference fell during volleyball preseason and I missed a few days of preseason and Coach Warners gave me a lot of grace. She understood it was something I needed and was called to do,” said Baker. “Just that experience alone underlines how Calvin balances academics and athletics so well.”
On the court, Baker wrapped up her time on the volleyball court this past fall by leading her team to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. She led her team with 3.49 kills per set and finished her career with an impressive 588 career digs and 183 blocks. In the classroom, she sports a 3.99 GPA and is a seven-time Dean’s List honoree.
All around team effort brightens future outlook
While the stats are indeed impressive, it’s the team she’s been a part of across the university that has set her up for future success.
“It’s been great to be on such an amazing team. Every single teammate, coach, and professor has made an impact on me,” said Baker.
Baker will graduate in May and is planning to go onto graduate school next fall. Because of her preparation at Calvin, she is confident she’ll be more than prepared wherever God leads.
“My experience at Calvin has been amazingly formative and one that a lot of people don’t have going into grad school,” said Baker. “I’ve started a research project from the beginning, collected data, analyzed the data, even wrote and published the manuscript on it, which is something only profs typically do, but my advisor invited me into all of this. This has put me a step ahead on my applications which has been amazing.”
