By: Shyanne Gaston
In a room filled with young high school students aspiring to be collegiate athletes, Scott Govern gave insight past the glamour of playing sports in college.
On April 29, 2016, Hershey High School held its first Community Day. Students in all grades were able to participate in sessions of their interests. College Recruiting for Athletics was one of the sessions that was available to those who aspire to continue to play sports in college. Govern , the HHS Athletic Director, spoke at the session.
Govern played football for 4 years at Lock Haven University.
Govern began the first half of his session talking about college. He emphasized the importance of college while still participating in sports. The odds of a student receiving an athletic scholarship is 4% and an academic scholarship is 74%. Along with credentials, the minimum grade point average for a student athlete is a 2.3 out of a 4.0.
Govern reminded the students to, “be smart first,” and work towards athletic goals. The second half of the meeting was about the realism of college sports. Govern continually stressed to all the students that he is there with the college recruiting process. Throughout his seventeen years of being an athletic director, he prides himself with having a range of 15-25 students go on to play college sports. Govern shared his own good and bad experiences playing sports in college and the experiences his past students have shared with him.
Sophomore Cassie Zugay attended the session and was surprised about how involved Govern is in helping students play sports in college. Zugay has dreams of playing Division I basketball and with the help of Govern, she believes she can make her dream come true. Zugay said, “This session was very informative.” This is how Govern wanted it to be.
After the session, Govern relayed that he is overall happy on how the session went and the turnout of kids who showed up. The session for Govern was to show students how much hard work is needed to play sports in college. Govern ended saying, “I will be 100% honest. I will never squash your dreams.”
