Each month the Southern Conference will feature a student-athlete from around the league in a series called the SoCon Spotlight. This will be an opportunity to get acquainted with the student-athlete in a different light. The question and answer session will focus on a student-athlete who contributes away from the field, course, mat or court through community service.
This SoCon Athlete Spotlight focuses on Furman's Jessica Preeg, a senior political science major from Naples, Fla. Preeg is a member of the Paladins' women's tennis team, and when she's not on the court, she and the team are helping at local community centers in Greenville and participating in various fundraisers such as Relay For Life. We recently sat down with Preeg to talk about her community service experiences as well as being a student-athlete at Furman.
Tell us about yourself.
"My name is Jessica Preeg, and I'm from Naples, Fla. I'm a senior political science major at Furman University. I'm on the women's tennis team."
You attended the University of Virginia your freshman year. What made you decide to transfer and play tennis at Furman?
"I think towards the end of my freshman year, I really took some time to reflect on the year. I really felt that a lot of the emphasis that the coach and the program placed on the team was solely on tennis. I really wanted the opportunity to branch out and join different programs and really become a well-balanced student and athlete. I felt that Furman was the perfect opportunity to do that, so I decided to make the switch towards the end of my freshman year."
You have been involved in many community service projects as an individual and as part of your tennis team. Can you tell us more about those projects?
"I think our tennis team does a really great job, and so does our coach, involving the team with the community. We're involved in lots of different projects. We do the Frazee Center, which we've done a lot this year. It's an after school program for underprivileged children. The team has gone in maybe once every two months, and we go in for a couple of hours and help the kids with tutoring or just playing games or just spending time with each of the children. Our team is also involved in a lot of philanthropy. We do Relay For Life, Habitat for Humanity and we do a little bit of work with Make A Wish. We just try to really involve ourselves in the community and give back because the community does give so much to our team that we want to show our appreciation."
Can you tell us more about the Frazee Center and what you do there?
"I think the Frazee Center probably has been the community service project that we've been most involved with this year. It's an after school program. There are only three or four people who work it. They're very dependent on volunteers, which is nice. It's just a group of kids from the local Greenville elementary schools and middle schools whose families can't afford babysitters or can't afford after school programs. The kids come here, and they get help with their school work, and they get tutored in various areas. They get a chance to play games and be around other kids their age. It's in a really positive environment."
What is the best part about doing community service with your teammates?
"It's just a really great time to bond with all of the girls on the team. You learn a lot about yourself but also a lot about your teammates; for example, the after school program, seeing them interact with all the different kids. You learn a lot about yourself, but you also learn a lot about how you work as a team, and how each individual person acts."
What are some of your favorite memories from your involvement in community service?
"I really enjoy spending time with my teammates but also the appreciation. We do a lot of work with children, and the appreciation that they show us for all the help that we try to give, it's really special, and it's a really great feeling."
You personally helped out at the Greenville Learning Center. Why did you decide to do that on your own?
"It actually started with a class. We were recommended to go there once a week on Wednesday nights to tutor. The children whose parents were there were either taking literacy tests or working on their GED's. I started going once a week for two to three hours a night tutoring the children. It was the same children every week. I just felt like I really formed relationships and bonds with these children. It was really exciting to see them come back week after week and do better on their homework or come in with their homework completed rather than us trying to push the homework on them. It was a really great experience, and I was actually really sad to stop when the year came to an end."
You've mentioned the many activities you've been involved with, yourself and your team. What has been your favorite particular project that you've worked on community-service wise?
"I think our team is very involved with Relay for Life. I think it's really special to our team. Our coach is a breast cancer survivor. Just about a week ago was her five year mark. That project really holds a place in all of our hearts. We are very involved. We kind of adopted that program a little bit with our team. Before every match we hold donations and just really bring about awareness since it is such a pertinent issue to our team because our coach is a survivor."
Your team set personal volunteering goals for the year. Can you share your personal goals and talk about the progress you have made?
"Our team decided this year that we would each set a personal goal as well as a team goal for community service. We already had two required team community service events, but we decided that each of us would set a goal from seven to 10 hours on our own that we would do a semester. I personally set seven hours, but I know a lot of girls who had a little more free time as far as classes who set 10 hours a week for their goal. We also wanted to do an extra team event where we set up the event and we did the research and it really came from us, rather than a coach or an athletic director. We tried to add that to our schedule and our list of goals."
What have you learned about yourself through the community service?
"I've learned how blessed I really am to attend a school like Furman or to be able to participate in a program like Furman's women's tennis. I feel like from this community service you learn a lot about yourself just through the struggles. You really see the struggles of the children as far as their family life and growing up. You just learn how blessed you are, and so you really learn to appreciate everything that we have here."
How has your experience influenced your play on the court?
"It really helps me, and I know a lot of my teammates feel the same way, tackle different adversities on the court. You see everything that the kids go through and their families and you learn how minimal our struggles seem. It forces us to work hard and take every adversity that comes towards us on and off the court."
How has your experience influenced your work in the classroom?
"It definitely pushes me to work harder and do my best. When you see how blessed we really are to have the opportunity to attend a college like Furman in that so many of these kids don't have those privileges or might not have those privileges growing up. It definitely pushes you to work harder and really appreciate everything that we have here."
What would you say to other student-athletes who are considering participating in community service?
"I would definitely encourage it. It's a great thing to do with your team. It really brings everybody on the team together. It makes you feel great about yourself, but it also makes the people that you're helping really appreciative. Being an athlete, a lot of the kids and their families really look up to that. It's great to be role models in that sense."
Having so many responsibilities, how do you help yourself keep focused and maintain balance?
"I just try to do as much as I can and try to be as well-rounded as possible. I'm in a sorority, I do tennis, I take classes, and I just try to fit in as much as I can each day and do as many different things as I possibly can."
What has been a challenge about making time for all those different things you want to be involved in?
"It definitely is a little bit of a challenge sometimes where you feel that you can't spend as much as time as you would like on certain things. Then again, I wouldn't trade the time that I necessarily miss with certain things for not being able to do all of them."
You are a senior this year. What are your plans after graduation?
"As of now I am unsure. I hope to go into publishing. I interned this summer with the publishing industry, so I hope to do something in that field with books and the publicity."
What is your favorite memory, either academic or athletic, from your time at Furman?
"I think my best memories all stem from our spring breaks. We're very lucky in the sense that we get to take really fun and exciting spring breaks. We've gone to LA and San Diego. This year we're going to Naples, my hometown. I think all of my best memories have stemmed from those breaks."
What is the best part about being a student-athlete at Furman?
"As I mentioned before, I think Furman does a really great job of letting us be athletes, but also experience all aspects of college life. Where I feel like some programs you are there solely for your sport. Furman lets you branch out and really lets you experience college for what it is, rather than just your sport."
2009-10 SoCon Spotlight Featured Student-Athletes
Appalachian State - Sam Ramirez - Basketball (view article and interview)
College of Charleston - Emily Morgan - Soccer (view article and interview)
The Citadel - Lauren Fleming - Track & Field (view article and interview)
Davidson - Bryant Barr - Basketball (view article and interview)
Elon - Steven Kinney - Soccer (view article and interview)
Furman - Jessica Preeg - Tennis (view article and interview)
Georgia Southern - Jake Ware - Baseball (view article and interview)
UNC Greensboro - Emily Akiyama - Softball (view article and interview)
Samford - Patrick Wells - Track & Field (view article and interview)
Chattanooga - Maria Juliana Loza - Golf (view article and interview)
Western Carolina - Kristen Feemster - Basketball (view article and interview)
Wofford - Jordan Ingman - Football (view article and interview)