Then-redshirt senior outside hitter Lauren Swartz (15) and junior middle blocker Naya Gros (17) blocking the ball at the net during the game against Rutgers on April 2, 2021, at the Jenison Fieldhouse. The Scarlet Knights defeated the Spartans 3-2.
Lauren Swartz: MSU economics and Master’s program graduate, student-athlete with one of the highest grade point averages, four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and now second-time First Team Academic All-America Honors.
“It’s just such a great honor to be given the award and, not even to earn it once, but to earn it twice,” Swartz said. “It’s just kind of surreal.”
As a freshman in 2016, Swartz remembers being unsure of herself and lacking confidence, but she put in the work to gain the confidence and use her strengths.
Swartz recently graduated with a 4.0 grade point average with an undergraduate degree in economics and a master’s in marketing research. She earned the President's Award, which is awarded to the graduating MSU student-athlete with the highest GPA.
Throughout her time at MSU, Swartz has earned many awards, ranging from the President’s Award to the All-Big Ten Selection and to the MSU Kirkby Scholar-Athlete Award for 2018 and 2019.
She has now earned the First Team Academic All-America Honors for the second time in her college career, one of only 21 athletes chosen from around the country.
Swartz was one of only three chosen from the Big Ten Conference, and one of only two to graduate with 4.0 GPAs.
“I think Michigan State and just being a student-athlete in general, it prepared me so well for the real world and the job that I’m in now,” Swartz said.
A Pittsburgh native, Swartz has now transitioned to a full-time job in Cincinnati, which she feels being a student-athlete has prepared her to do.
“Through being a student-athlete, through interacting with my teammates on the team and learning a lot from my coaches over the years … gave me a lot of confidence and what my skill set was, Swartz said. "So those skills have really transferred into helping me transition."
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