As a student athlete at Bucknell, I often have a biased opinion on how I feel like this school compares to others around the country. Looking at it from an academic and social I feel as though most schools cannot stack up to the elite education Bucknell offers as well as maintaining our stature as one of the schools with the best social scene that is inviting. From an athletic lens, our football program is on the rise after numerous years of being known as one of the worst in the Patriot League, and new facilities coming in 2-3 years reflect that. Our new coaching staff is one of the best in the Patriot League and there’s no better time to hop on our bandwagon than now, so I often get complacent in having this idea that my school is the best combination of those three things anyone can offer.
This weekend I hosted a recruit that was on his official visit and seriously considering Bucknell. I decided to ask him about the other schools he was looking at and he named 4-5 schools in the Patriot and Ivy League. After talking to him I realized that there was so many unique offerings at places like Holy Cross and Harvard that Bucknell can’t provide. Sure we might be great in the areas I talked about but I learned from conversations with the recruit the whole weekend that I must open my eyes to things outside of Bucknell and possibly how I could implement them into my experience. It inspired me to go and talk to my coaches about different tweaks to a certain workout or gamely music/experience that the team and prospects would like. It was a great way to step out of my comfort zone and admit that other schools do great things in sports and academics as well, and it’s not bad to learn from them to make my experience the best it can be.