COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS) hosted a panel of student-athletes on Friday, Oct. 30, to discuss their perspective as student-athletes and their positions in the community as leaders and advocates. The panel was moderated by ABTS Student Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Marc Younker, and included student-athlete panelists Jared Florell (Purdue wrestling), Ryan Cassidy (Rutgers football) and Maryland's Julia Reicin. 

A senior member of the track & field and cross country teams, Reicin currently serves as the Director of Maryland's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a VoTERP Student-Athlete  Representative, a Gossett Fellow and is a distinguished scholar pursuing her Masters of Public Policy. 

Panelists opened the evening by speaking on their journey to compete at the collegiate level in their respective sports followed by a brief reflection on the rigorous day-in-the-life of a student-athlete.  

"Our experiences are very structured," said Reicin. "We know day-to-day that we have practice at certain times so we know we have to schedule our classes to accommodate our athletic schedules, in addition to meetings and treatments. That structure has allowed me to be very successful in the classroom and has been beneficial."

The discussion delved into academic achievement and career readiness among the athletics community.

"Something that's great about Maryland is that we have the Maryland Made development team," said Reicin. "Their focus is developing student-athletes to achieve academic excellence, be leaders in their respective careers and become well-rounded individuals outside of athletics. Having that high-touch process is something that is extremely beneficial when planning goals and career aspirations."

Reicin is an active leader in the Maryland Made program as well as the VoTERP initiative that she and the VoTERP committee have amplified this month as an effort to educate and register voters in the athletic department and community. 

"We have partnered with the University of Maryland, the Big Ten and our own athletic department sub-committee to register, educate and activate our student-athletes on voting. We were able to commission the XFINITY Center to be a polling location for early voting and election day," Reicin explained. "Now more than ever our student-athletes are well-versed on the conversation surrounding the importance of voting and making a change."

The full panel discussion can be viewed on Facebook and is available in the new ABTS podcast series Between Class: Episode 2 on Spotify.