With National Women and Girls in Sports Day passing by last Wednesday, a few of our Panthers took a break from the soccer field and took a trip to West Miami Middle School. The women's soccer team met with young girls currently participating in the FIU After-School All-Star program and shared with them a bit of their experiences being female collegiate athletes.

"Be organized!" heeded Lauren Michael. The goalkeeper and Florida native admitted that she was "that girl" in middle school, the one with papers sticking out of her notebook and a blank agenda in her bag. The girls were advised to stay as on-track as possible. Although it is the best way to get through college, for a group of pre-teens, this might be easier said than done.

The FIU women's team described the adversities behind the life of a student-athlete, especially when pursuing laborious majors like biomedical engineering or nursing. Freshman Emily Baragar advised the girls to take some advanced classes in high school; it will help in the long run. "I took two things I really liked, math and science, and I chose my major in biomedical engineering," Baragar said. The girls described the dedication it takes to keep up with grades and stay ahead in the classroom, but admitted that soccer is a passion that they would not give up.

"I think it's really great that the soccer team shared their collegiate experience with the girls from West Miami Middle School," said Assistant Athletic Director Liz Augustin.

The young soccer players became giddy as sophomore Paula Quintero described the beginning of her soccer career. "My coach started looking at me when I was in eighth grade," Quintero explained to West Miami Middle. "I think it's important to reach out to these girls to show them that it is possible to be successful and pursue whatever they want to do in the future. These girls loved talking to us and they seemed inspired."

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.