Getting a high-quality, classical education can be a rigorous process - so can being an NCAA student-athlete. But at Veritas Scholars Academy, we strive to allow students to reach academic excellence and their full athletic potential.

What does life look like for students who choose to be full-time VSA students and participate in NCAA sports? We interviewed three students at different stages in their education to give you an experienced perspective of what it takes to be a student-athlete and succeed in Veritas Scholars Academy.

Erica:

My name is Erica Esterly. I have been a swimmer at the Division one level for three years at West Point.

Lewis:

My name is Lewis Esterly and I'm also a swimmer and I am currently going to be a junior in high school.

Margaret:
My name is Margaret Esterly. I am graduating this year and I'm going to Drexel University for swimming.

How did you all become swimmers?

Erica:

I think I started. It was something I saw my friend doing when I was really young and I was like five years old. I think I asked my mom to sign me up for it. And after I got involved, my siblings wanted to do it as well. So we all got into it.

How did you first get involved with Veritas Scholars Academy?

Erica:

We started ramping up how much we were swimming. We moved out to Arizona and we increased our hours in the pool. And then after we did that, we were looking for an education that would help give us some flexibility to travel, to take it with us. And it ended up working out.

What years did you each join VSA?

Margaret:
I was in second grade.

Lewis:
Kindergarten.

Erica:

And I entered in sixth grade.

What’s it like to balance NCAA athletics with VSA’s academics?

Margaret:

I think the biggest difference was that it gave us so much flexibility even for being such a rigorous program. We'd be traveling and we'd have to leave first thing on a Tuesday and we'd miss maybe two days of classes, and then when we got home, we'd just watch the archives. But I think the difference between us and our friends on the team was just the curriculum we were learning. I mean, I'm comparing books to like my college friends and not my high school friends.

Lewis:
Yeah, we always hear our friends talking about how they have to miss so much school. And it's nice how we can watch those archives, but it is still challenging – the workload and trying to stay on top of all of it and the sport.

Erica:

I think yeah, I agree. It gave me the flexibility to have time to go into college research, take trips for swimming, take official visits to colleges, and not miss a beat.

Do you feel like students need to choose between rigorous academics and sports?

Erica:

I think you could be both. I think Veritas is great. It allows you to kind of figure out what you really like to do, to become more involved in that particular area of study.

I didn't excel at everything in Veritas, and it was hard, honestly, spending my time between swimming and school. But once I figured out my niche and pursued it in college, now I'm taking what I've learned to Veritas and applying it to the philosophy studies I do.

Margaret:

I think that was something too, that college coaches realized was the difference between us and a regular kid that they were recruiting, was that it gave us strengths in both areas. So they’d look at my transcript and then they’d look at my swimming and they're like, “There's not one or the other. You’re getting both.”

Lewis:

Yeah, it really helps you to be a Renaissance man or woman, just to be able to just do it all. It's great.

Which Diploma tracks did you each take in VSA?

All: Highest honors

What was it like to balance the Highest Honors track with NCAA swimming?

Erica:
It was definitely rigorous. It required us to sacrifice a little bit of time that we might have spent socializing or doing things on the weekend. But for me personally, it prepared me really well.

Being at West Point, it's all about time management. And I found that because I swam and I did school rigorously, I'm now able to balance both of them and I have no issue getting my 8 hours of sleep, getting all my homework done, and attending all my practices. And I credit a lot of that to Veritas because it taught me how to be efficient with my time, and always be getting my work done, even when I'm on the road. So I've carried those skills to college.

What advice would you give aspiring NCAA athletes?

Lewis:

I would just say, you have to be a student-athlete first and foremost. So you have to prioritize the schooling and you can do both. It just takes discipline and it takes time to learn how to do both. But you can do it.

Margaret:

Going back to your point about having either school or athletics, I think at Veritas you're able to do both if you really just put the time into it. But school should be prioritized over athletics.

Erica:

And you can find ways as well to enjoy both aspects of it. You know, I would get really into some of the reading that we did. And so sometimes the reading felt less like a chore and more like something I wanted to do. So if you're invested in school and you're ready to take on a challenge, I think Veritas is a great way to do that.

What was the biggest sacrifice you made to be an NCAA high school athlete?

Erica:

Social time, a little bit of sleep.

All: [Nods in agreement]

Do you regret the social time that you gave up for school and athletics?

Erica:

No, I think it prepared me really well to come to West Point and to excel academically and athletically. And now that I have those time management skills, I'm able to enjoy social time on the weekends or even during the day. And it never feels like I'm drowning in schoolwork because I know how to get my homework done officially and get to sleep. And so I feel like all areas of my life now are in balance. I think if I hadn't had the time at Veritas, I probably wouldn't have developed the time management skills that allow me to have that balance now.

How did your teammates perceive the type of school that you’re doing?

Margaret:

Like, they’d ask us, “What type of school are you doing?” And we're like, “Oh, we're homeschooled, but not totally – we're in an online school.” So we always make a distinction of online school because Veritas gives us kind of that social aspect where it's not like we're just sitting at home not talking to anyone. We're still interacting with kids over the computer and having conversations. It's definitely a distinction I have to make, of we’re doing online school, not just homeschool.

How did you build friendships with your classmates at VSA?

Margaret:

I have some of my closest friends from Veritas. I visited one of my best friends from Veritas in August, and then she came out for my homecoming. I have some of my closest and deepest friendships from online school.

Erica:

I think social media was probably the biggest way.

Lewis:

Yeah, social media.

Erica:

Like my friends and I, we had a group chat going where we were texting. We would, as Margaret said, we'd fly out for trips together. And social media is a really helpful tool. Now there are all the different VSA accounts, like VSA Comedy and VSA accounts for each grade.

So people are getting connected on Instagram, on Snapchat, whatever it might be.

Margaret:

I do, as a senior, still have some friends who aren’t on social media. But like just having a phone helps. Also a lot of kids email or use Discord. Discord is a big one for kids who don't have a phone. They still find ways to stay connected. And they can always text and email, which are the safest ways. But yeah, there are so many ways to connect with people.

Erica:

And in person, too. I would get together with my Veritas friends who lived close-ish to me and as Margaret said, take a small trip out to see one of them. The best way to do it is in person.