UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While athletics at the University Park campus get a great deal of attention, Penn State's Commonwealth Campuses offer a vibrant culture of sports programs for students across the state. These teams offer an opportunity for students to continue playing at a competitive level after high school and add to the overall student experience at Penn State.

More than 75 NCAA Division III teams are active across five of 19 undergraduate campuses that sponsor intercollegiate athletics. An additional 120 sports are sponsored at the remaining 14 campuses that participate as members of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), and dozens of teams qualify for national championships regularly. Students have access to athletics programming such as golf, cross country, basketball and volleyball. Nearly 2,600 Commonwealth Campus students participated in athletics programs in the 2022-23 school year.

Options vary by campus, but every student has the opportunity to get involved in something. Students have access to intercollegiate athletics at the Division III or USCAA level depending on campus. Those teams go head-to-head against similarly sized regional institutions at their same skill level, including Johns Hopkins University, Miami-Hamilton and other institutions of a similar size. Students also have the opportunity to participate in intramural and club-level sports.

Students don’t have to worry about the sports taking them away from their studies, either. For many students, competing at Commonwealth Campuses offers a perfect blend of sports, academics and community engagement. Programs are supplemental to the academic experience and offer ways to engage with the local community, find a home away from home and continue competing, all while getting the quality education offered at Penn State.

A focus on academics

For Emily Bortnick, being able to continue playing volleyball at a high level while working on her Penn State degree was the perfect combination, she said. Bortnick, a third-year nursing student, started her college career at Penn State Shenango before moving to Penn State Behrend.

“I've always wanted to continue playing, but I didn't know my abilities and didn't know the capacity of my schedule, or if I would be able to go to nursing school and play volleyball,” Bortnick said. “But I didn’t have to pick and choose. I could do everything.”

Bortnick wanted an experience that would give her smaller classes and hands-on experience. She hadn’t considered that she would be able to get that as a student-athlete, she said. But with support from her coaches and her professors at both campuses, she’s been able to make it happen.

“You will have relationships with your professors. They will know your schedule. They'll understand that you have other opportunities and other things to do,” Bortnick said.

As a result, student-athletes at Commonwealth Campuses perform at a high level not only on the field, but in the classroom. Ten Commonwealth Campuses boasted an average grade point average of 3.0 or higher among their student-athletes for the 2020-21 school year.

For some campuses, that’s part of a longer pattern. At Penn State Mont Alto, student-athletes' average GPA has been 3.0 or higher for the past 12 semesters, according to Assistant Director of Athletics Shane Myers.

“Academic success is something that we take great pride in. That's what we preach, and we go forth every day with the goal of accomplishing that,” Myers said. “Everybody’s playing career comes to an end at some point. We want our student-athletes to be equipped for the rest of their lives once their playing days are over.”

According to Penn State Brandywine's former Head Tennis Coach Ryan Caris, those who work with students try to focus on the bigger picture.

“Your actual career is just getting started at that point. That is your main focus while you're here,” Caris said. “Whereas at the Division-I level, you definitely are focused on your classes and graduating, but you have to commit a lot more time to your sport and fitness.”

The dedication of the staff is visible from the long tenure of many of the coaches. Patrick O’Driscoll, the women’s soccer coach at Penn State Behrend, has been with the team for about 17 years. The longevity of many of the coaches helps to build lasting connections, he said.

"There's a lot of stability and familiarity, in a positive way. I could talk to another coach about advice, and I like that,” O’Driscoll said.

That stability helps the overall program, O’Driscoll said, and helps to keep players connected even after they’ve graduated. That includes connecting with alumni and building connections for mentorship and job opportunities after a student’s time at Penn State ends.

Finding support and assistance

With a smaller student body, each of Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses offers direct, individual support. For student-athletes, who have to manage the demands of their sport with their academics, that support can be invaluable.

While he serves as the women’s basketball coach at Penn State DuBois, Pat Lewis said he’s always looking out for his student-athletes' academic well-being.

“I ask them almost daily, ‘How are your classes?’” Lewis said. “The players on my team are pretty self-motivated, and they realize that basketball is the icing on the cake. The whole basis of this cake is academics.”

Lewis discusses the academic expectations of the program with potential recruits and their families to make sure everyone is on the same page. While he doesn’t run study halls for his students, the DuBois campus has a Center for Undergraduate Excellence, or the CUE, that Lewis encourages everyone to use when they need help with their schoolwork.

At Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus, student-athletes can go to the Student Athletes Graduate and Excel (SAGE) program when they need more support. The SAGE program relies on academic liaisons and the athletic department to provide students with what they need to accomplish their schoolwork. That includes study halls, mental health support and tutoring, and individualized assistance from staff and faculty.

Kyle Ridley, who graduated from Penn State Fayette in May 2023, said the SAGE program and the family atmosphere were a significant help after difficulties with his grades during his first two years at the school. Ridley played on Fayette’s baseball team last year and worked as an intern in the athletic department.

“I was ineligible [to play] my first two years, and instead of giving up on me, the people in the SAGE program took me under their wing and showed me exactly what I needed to do and pushed me to do better. I was able to bring my GPA up,” Ridley said.

Ridley said the direct support, including weekly or monthly checkups on his academic progress, made a huge difference for him. Students at Commonwealth Campuses can access many of the same services and resources as their peers at University Park, including academic mentorship and tutoring. Part of why he chose a Commonwealth Campus initially, he said, was for that small-campus engagement.

“I didn't want a lot of students in one classroom. I knew I wasn't the best at school, I needed a little bit more help to get through,” Ridley said. “I'd be able to connect with the professors and have more of a chance to succeed.”

Achieving athletic success

While turning students into professional athletes isn’t a focus of Commonwealth Campus programs, a number of students have gone on to the professional ranks, including:

• Penn State Abington alum Ryan McCarty, class of 2022, was signed as an undrafted free agent to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022.
• Penn State Brandywine’s Arianna Segich, class of 2019, went on to play one season of professional softball.
• Former Penn State Beaver volleyball player Heaven Bowman played overseas while pursuing her graduate degree.

Because of their competitive status at a smaller scale, Commonwealth Campus programs offer a chance for more student-athletes to be recognized for a standout season, according to Penn State Fayette Assistant Athletic Director Samantha Swetz.

“There's always a light at the end of the tunnel. You could be competing for a national championship. If you go 25-1, you're going to be in the top 10 and you're going to get to qualify for that national championship,” Swetz said. “Your successful season will never go unnoticed.”

The Penn State DuBois baseball team won the 2023 USCAA National Championship this spring, after a successful run in the Penn State University Athletic Conference. At Penn State Wilkes-Barre, the men’s basketball team took home the USCAA Division II national title this year. Brandywine’s softball team claimed the USCAA national championship, and Mont Alto's volleyball team took home the 2022 USCAA national championship in their division.

Even at schools where the programs are still getting their legs, students have a chance to gain recognition for their performance. Penn State Shenango fourth-year student Gianna Effinite joined the co-ed golf team when it launched last year, and she progressed to the national championships.

“I was doing an internship with my coach at the park, and he ran up to me saying, ‘You did it,’” Effinite said of her championship qualification. “That was a really cool moment for the two of us because, in our first year, it was kind of hard to pull something like that off.”

Opportunities like the one Effinite experienced, combined with the ultimate goal of earning a Penn State degree, draw students to the Commonwealth Campuses. While many of the campuses have a higher population of commuter students than University Park, the athletics programs bring students from across the country.

Penn State Behrend’s water polo program often attracts students from as far away as California, according to Joe Tristan, who coached the team until June of this year. Having an opportunity to earn a Penn State degree is often just as much part of that recruitment as the Division III team, Tristan said, particularly for students interested in STEM.

“There aren’t a lot of high-quality academic engineering programs that have varsity water polo,” Tristan said. “Students that come here are going to go off and do great things in their fields, whether it be mechanical engineering, med school or law school, or wherever their degree takes them.”

Building a community

For students who are leaving home for the first time, Commonwealth Campuses also offer community and connectivity that can be crucial in adjusting to newfound independence, O’Driscoll said.

“There are some good friendships between teams. My players live in this hallway [of the dormitory], and then the next hallway over would be the softball team or the basketball team,” he said.

Having a team to rely on can make the transition easier for students, particularly for those coming from farther away. Recent Penn State DuBois graduate and former softball player Larissa James-LaBranche, who came to the campus from Virginia, said she appreciated seeing the growth the team went through during their time together.

“I immediately had that group of girls to come and help me and welcome me,” James-LaBranche said. “In leadership positions, we were able to help the younger players transition into those roles as well and make the team feel more like a family.”

For Kevin O’Neill, a sophomore member of Brandywine’s cross-country team, the location of the campus allowed him to commute from home, which contributed to his decision to enroll. Being on a team with other students in a similar place gave him the community support he needed, and the structure assisted in his academic performance.

“We are all part of the same team,” O’Neill said. “Although we all have different personal goals and paths, we’re all trying to get each other amped up and ready to run. We’re all making a lot of great friends.”

Other students, and even residents in local towns that surround each campus, can find something to rally around when a team does well. Many campuses also offer livestreams of their games, particularly within the Penn State University Athletic Conference, according to Penn State DuBois Marketing and Communications Director Jessica Mondi.

“One of the main things I hear from students on why they chose Penn State DuBois is that having the livestream allows their parents to watch them play,” Mondi said. “That’s very important to them.”

Penn State Mont Alto Men’s Basketball Coach Jack Schenzel has been with the program for 12 years. He’s received offers from other schools after the team saw success under his leadership, he said, but Schenzel has no desire to leave.

“This is where I'm going to hang my hat, and this [program] is what I want to build into a perennial power,” Schenzel said. “Mont Alto is a great place because it's a family. We all work together to make sure that each student-athlete is treated with respect and pushed to be the best they can be."