Books and Brawn: Arizona State’s High Achievers

Sore muscles, sweat and sleepless nights are part of the price athletes pay to excel in their chosen sports. To perform at the highest level and at their maximum level, athletes have to put in countless hours in training.

For some athletes, that excellence extends beyond the field, gym or pool. For some, their highest achievements aren’t earned in sport, but in the classroom.

At ASU, Barrett, The Honors College, is known for harnessing the potential for greatness in any student who is willing to dedicate themselves to achieve academic excellence. The Barrett program is designed to complement a student’s overall ASU experience by providing additional opportunities within their chosen major or the university at large. All majors work with the honors curriculum, which is customized to suit students’ needs.

Alex Theodorou, Gymnastics

Focus, persistence and precision are all key to sticking the landing in gymnastics. For senior Alex Theodorou, those same three principles are integral to her education and her decision to attend Barrett.

“The gymnastics and athletics program are really great,” Theodorou said. “I knew that it would be a great opportunity for me to be able to thrive in the athletic space. But, for me, my top priority was also being able to have that academic space and an honors college to be able to excel in my academics.”

As a gymnast, Theodorou is no stranger to finding balance, and that balance requires focus. That sense of focus helps her manage the seemingly endless workload of Barrett.

Between staying on top of grades, balancing school with a personal life, and training for her sport, college can be overwhelming. To a self-proclaimed perfectionist like Theodorou, organization matters and it’s what keeps her from stumbling in her academics.

“It's really just about staying organized with Barrett. Just making sure that I'm always on top of getting the honors credits that I need and making sure that those projects take priority,” Theodorou said. “The same thing happens with my thesis; making sure that I'm keeping track of what I need to do, so that way nothing gets lost in the shuffle of everything.”

It may seem simple, but Theodorou manages her rigorous academic schedule with athletics by simply making lists. Listing things and ordering them by priority is her secret to success. At the top of this list is academics. Inspired by her parents and brother, the pursuit for scholastic excellence is ingrained.

"I'm very close with my family. I'm so lucky to have them. I had my older brother who had balance, too, with academics and athletics. He played soccer and was very academically focused,” Theodorou said.

Following in his footsteps, watching her brother go through the rigors of being a student-athlete, Theodorou prepared for her college experience and the realization that the majority of her focus should be on academics, because sports aren’t forever.

“Once I'm done in college, that's the end of my gymnastics career. I'm very aware of that,” Theodorou said. “I know that my academics are what will get me my career for real, and my life in the future.”

Theodorou's passion for academics may be propelled by the support of her family but Barrett has provided her with the tools she needs to achieve success. Honors contracts, letters of recommendation, and working closely with ASU Health have allowed her to produce truly compelling work.

It’s no secret that the weather in Arizona, at times, feels like a scorching inferno. Every year, heat-related deaths and illnesses are reported throughout the state - this is exactly what Theodorou is studying in her thesis project.

“I've been contacting medical examiner's offices to try to map out if there are certain locations that have more heat-related illness or certain zip codes to pinpoint the intersectionality of heat-related deaths. It's not all just about heat. There's a lot of other components to it, whether it's drugs, whether it's homelessness, whether it's living conditions,” Theodorou said.

With the help of Barrett, Theodorou was able to focus on a topic she is passionate about. She says this project has prepared her for her career and future.

“I want to go to medical school, so to be able to have that extra honors distinction and that honors project, I knew that was going to be something that would set me apart for such a competitive application and on top of my athletics. To be able to be this well-rounded student and athlete with an honors program that is respected was important and exciting for me to be able to have,” Theodorou said.

Caleb Liban, Diving

What to do and what not to do? In the story of Barrett and Sun Devil diver Caleb Liban lies a strong juxtaposition centered around one word: splash.

One category of his life thrives on focusing on bigger and better: a burst at the box office and the snaps of camera lights. On the other sits a chaotically calm leap of faith, honed by an intense attention to detail.

"For me, it (the split between athletics and school) would probably be 50/50.That's kind of something I had to learn as I've gone through college, just being on the dive team, especially freshman year. I was just so excited to be able to train and to just be on this team," Liban said. "I think at first it was a challenge to kind of see myself as both (a student and an athlete) in my identity. As I've gone through school, I've honestly learned that it's even helped me in the pool when I am able to separate."

Between the sport of diving and the trials of academia, Liban is an example of how far imperfection can take you. The rugged nature of his film major, along with continuous heart-wrenching leaps from a 10-meter diving board, are prime examples of this fact.

"Diving has taught me to not expect perfection immediately and that you can work on things and develop your skills," Liban said. "Obviously that skill applies to just about anywhere and anything you do. With diving, the time commitment has been huge, and so it's really taught me how to delegate my time more effectively."

Before committing time to a dream, you need to have one, and for Liban, that was the easy part. He knew he was destined for motion pictures from a young age.

"Before I was a diver, I was set on going to film school," Caleb said. "And so as a young kid, I was acting, and then my interest kind of shifted towards being on the other side of the camera. I was set on going somewhere with a film production program. Then, I got better at diving, and I started to get more serious about that. I immediately thought, ‘I need to find a place where I can do a film production major,’ which isn't offered at a lot of big diving schools. So ASU was a place that was on my radar pretty early as I was aware of the strong film program."

As with all things to Caleb, ordinary just isn't enough, and with a successful diving team in mind, there was just one more criterion left before his pen hit the commitment letter. Barrett, The Honors College, has separated itself from its competition by representing one of the nation's largest public universities while winning multiple awards and helping ASU maintain its #1 in innovation title.  For Liban, amongst many others, this set the school apart, leading to a commitment of four years and a dedication to academic excellence.

"When I learned of what Barrett was and learned that it was one of the biggest honors colleges in the country, I was pretty interested in incorporating that into my experience as a student. So, Barrett stood out to me pretty early on. As soon as I was looking at ASU, I was also looking at Barrett," Liban said.

As he progresses into his junior year, Caleb's focus shifts from commitment to credits for honors graduation. Luckily for him, the trip to center stage with a cap and gown has also led him to his favorite class.

"Honestly, my favorite class is my honors thesis. This has been an exciting time. I'm learning a lot from doing casting calls, gathering locations and script shot lists. In doing my honors thesis project and producing this movie, it’s been probably the most impactful thing I've learned here at ASU."

With curtain calls on the horizon, Liban dove into his final project and his final two seasons as a Sun Devil, sustaining the balance he learned to manage freshman year while pushing the boundaries of what's possible at Arizona State.

Helen Park, Lacrosse

A biomedical major in Barrett, The Honors College primarily focuses on human health and wellness. It is a rarity that the student’s path would diverge into one of storytelling.

Helen Park is a redshirt junior on Arizona State's women's lacrosse team and one of those rare people. She is building a narrative molded through her triumphs over tribulations, developing a story with international implications.

From her childhood in Edmond, Oklahoma, Park learned the importance of discipline from her two veteran parents, who were Division I athletes at the Naval Academy. With a motto of "things just get done," she has persevered through whatever it took to reach the heights her parents set in front of her. This led her to search for a premiere team in the sparse lacrosse landscape of the Oklahoma plains. Helen joined the 2020 Boys' Varsity Capital City Lacrosse team to become a barrier-breaker.

"Whenever I visited ASU, I asked the coach if it was okay. I don't have a lot of opportunities to get better here (Oklahoma), but I can play boys lacrosse," Park said. "He said, 'Yeah, that's what you have to do to get better.' You do it no matter the risk or no matter your hesitation. I didn't think I could do it whenever I was younger, playing at that age with the other guys. They were bigger, and now they are stronger, faster."

In her eyes, they might have been "bigger, stronger, and faster," but Park stood tall amongst her competition and was rewarded with a spot on the 2020 All-Southwest Lacrosse Team.

Overcoming hardship and learning lessons of tenacity would ensure consistency no matter the struggle in Parks' career. Just as she broke down a gender barrier, she also had to build herself back up from injury, leading her down the path of academic prowess that replicated her achievements on the field.

"I didn't fully know what I was going to go into when I was younger. Then, in high school, I tore my ACL and got really close with my orthopedic surgeon," Park said. "I think being so inspired by him made me really want to go into the medical field. I feel like, ever since then, I've fallen more and more in love with the medical field, in general. So being here (at Arizona State) has given me a lot of opportunities with the Mayo Clinic that pushed me farther and farther into this field of study."

With a rehabilitated ACL and a newfound interest in injury prevention, Park moved forward to her college degree. Assisted by her professors, she narrowed her Barrett thesis to create a knee brace specific to sports, a device that has yet to be developed for athletes.

"An issue for me has always been my knee brace. It's something I've always had to fight my trainers and fight my surgeons because I just never thought it was good enough," Park said. "I feel like the medical field is so advanced in everything. The surgery is so advanced, and everything is so awesome. But then the brace is not so advanced, and it's just not high performing in the way that I would want it to be."

Her optimistic outlook on her personal advancement and medical technology was just another aspect of how Park stood out. With her history in the physical game of men's lacrosse, she got the opportunity to innovate her sport - this time on the field of play.   

Park recently landed in New Jersey ready to participate in the first-ever tryout for the Women's Box lacrosse championship. Weaving through competition, she survived as cuts dwindled the USA Team from 300 to just 50 members.

But, just like any good hero’s story, there are highs and lows. For Park, this was another low point - she tore her ACL again before being placed on injured reserve less than a year from the competition.

"I feel like that was one of the hardest calls I ever had to make," she said. "To call the coach, the head coach, and assistant coaches, to say, 'Hey, thanks for this opportunity. But I tore my ACL.' I was honestly expecting them to say, ‘Oh, I'm so sorry, Helen. Maybe next cycle, you can be on the team.’ But they didn't. They' said, “okay, Helen, focus on your recovery; focus on yourself.’”

The following eight months of recovery would be excruciating yet familiar as she worked back from surgery to straighten her barely-bendable knee. Still, it was enough. She returned to the team in July and also made the final roster of 22 in time for the competition at the end of September.

Over nine days, the USA Women's Box Lacrosse Team and Park cemented themselves in history, defeating the favored Canada team to become the first-ever women's box lacrosse champions.

As a true representation of the definition of perseverance, Park will face more tests in her lifetime. Undoubtedly, she will face these tests head-on with the motto she always carries: "Things just get done." This motto will push her to yet another achievement for her resume and another story to be told.