MAC Leaders Exposé: Evie Lorimer, Central Michigan
Evie Lorimer, Central Michigan University, Redshirt Junior, Softball
When is your birthday?
August 31, 1994
What is your favorite color?
Green
What are you majoring in? What is your GPA?
I graduated in December with a degree in Environmental Health & Safety and a minor in Leadership. This past January, I started grad school and am working towards My Masters of Public Administration. My undergrad GPA was 3.74 and my grad school GPA is currently a 4.0
How many hours a week do you spend studying? Practicing/Training? And how do you manage your time?
As a student athlete that's all you do. Practice and study right? We spend around 20 hours practicing as a team and individually I tend to put in a few extra. I'm currently injured and spending most of my time in the training room or at physical therapy. I manage my time by staying focused on one task at a time. Looking at the big picture can be overwhelming when you think of all you have to do in a day. Simplify is the word that I use to keep myself focused. I try to keep myself busy too because I perform better under pressure.
What are your future plans after graduating? What do you want to be when you grow up?
I plan on finishing my Masters degree and then pursuing a job in the public sector, preferably in the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Environmental Quality. My ultimate dream job would be working in Africa and helping give clean water to communities who don't have access to it.
What does leadership mean to you?
Leadership is holding yourself accountable first and others second. If you hold yourself accountable first, you will gain so much more respect and so many more people will be willing to follow. Leadership is also centralized around the idea of us and we and not you and me. On the softball team our simple saying is WE > ME meaning that what we do as a team is greater than what we do individually. I think great leaders truly embody that concept both on and off the field. Leaders aren't afraid to put the team on their back and walk into situations of adversity without knowing the end result. No fear.
How has being a MAC Leader & a by part of SAAC effected your student-athlete career?
Being a MAC leader has lead me to meet some of the greatest people I'll ever know. It's awesome to see other student athletes that see the big picture and think of things beyond their sports. They are all just well-rounded individuals that are going to do great things in life and I'm proud to say that I know each and every one of them.
As far as how it has affect my career, it's given me opportunities I never could have dreamt of. My voice has been heard on a national level about the rising issues of student athletes. I've gained confidence in speaking my mind. I realize that I represent the voice of hundreds of athletes from CMU and that's such an honor. I feel thankful and blessed for this opportunity to be apart of something bigger. I've learned so much about myself in the process
What is your favorite memory from your college career?
My favorite memory was winning the MAC Tournament my freshman year. Nothing compares to winning a championship and that feeling that all your hard work has been rewarded. We're all competitors in the end seeking the same prize.
The last thing I'd like to add as a piece of advice: I've faced a lot of adversity in my college career with injuries. Injuries are hard. Disappointment is hard. Anxiety and fear can creep so easily into our lives if we allow it to. So how do we stop them from consuming us? My advice is to embrace adversity and see what you can learn from it. My injuries have taught me so much patience and thankfulness for the people that surround me. They have taught me to love my sport more. They have taught me to give everything I have when I can, because injury or not, there will come a day when all of us as student athletes will leave the sport behind. I wish I could have told my younger self that the years will fly by and you'll be done with this sport before you know it. Seize the opportunity to work hard in adversity because you are destined to learn something valuable from it.
