Political
Science major, Ashley Cheff, has received much well-deserved attention for her
accomplishments as a student athlete, (Buffalo News Story). Indeed, Ashley will be the first to tell you
how she has learned to apply the discipline she learned in sports to her
studies.
“Just like you make plans with your
friends around practice you should make those same plans around study time.
Just like you set a goal for a race or a game you should set a goal for the
next test or paper you have. Just like you wouldn’t show up to practice without
your gear you don’t turn in an assignment that hasn’t properly been prepared.
Just like you wouldn’t quit because of a bad game or race you don’t give up
because you’re struggling in the classroom. Just like you ask your coach for
help, when you want to master a skill you work with your professors and ask them
questions too. You create the balance by putting in the same effort, time, and
dedication to everything you do, whether it be the game you love or the paper
you write.”
Ashley is indeed
a master of time management and strategic planning. As Ashley’s academic advisor, I vividly
remember meeting her meeting her for the first time. Rarely do freshman arrive
for that first session with a proposed plan of action and such a clear-headed
description of what they wish to accomplish in college and in life.
Ashley writes that she “learned very quickly that setting goals is one thing, but achieving
them is another and to make that achievement possible you have to work hard.” Fidelity
to those goals and a willingness to work hard has guided her all throughout her
time at Daemen. Just three short years
later, Ashley is well on the way to making the next of her goals a reality.
Ashley is incredibly
modest about her undergraduate academic accomplishments. She has maintained a 4.0 grade point average and
was named one of Top 10 freshman – an honor given to freshmen who earned the
top grade point average in their freshman year.
Ashley has thus far excelled in every subject, in large part due to her
dedication to putting in her best effort, but also due her mature approach to
the value of learning: “I know I won’t
get every question right, I won’t get a perfect score on every test or an A on
every paper, but if I work hard and regularly set goals for myself something
great can and will come out of it.” As one of her senior thesis advisors, I
can attest that Ashley is every bit as “coachable” in the classroom as she is
on the field: she shows up with a good attitude, asks for honest feedback,
learns from constructive criticism, and applies what she learns to the next
experience.
There is a
passion beyond athletics which guides Ashley: her compassion and advocacy for
those with mental illness and mental disabilities. Ashley has developed her expertise in this area
by adding a Philosophy minor to her Pre Law minor. In so doing, she has worked closely with Dr.
Serife Tekin, an expert on the philosophy of psychiatry and Assistant Professor
in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Under Dr. Tekin’s guidance, Ashley recently presented a paper on the
“It’s not out of the ordinary for people
to ask me how I balance being an athlete and a student and I always find this
question so difficult to answer,” Ashley noted. Perhaps this is because Ashley has an almost superhuman knack for making the impossible seem easy. She is the personification of dedication as both a scholar and an athlete.
~Dr. Lisa K.
Parshall
