ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT: ERIK FIRGANEK AND JENNIFER PAUL
Bourbonnais, Ill – In this edition of 'Athlete Spotlight' we highlighted two seniors on this year's Olivet Nazarene University swim and dive team. These seniors are Erik Firganek and Jennifer Paul.
Every athlete that comes to Olivet has a different background of how they got involved with their sport. Erik got involved in swimming at a young age because of his older sister who swam. Therefore, his parents wanted him to try swimming. Along with swimming at a young age, Erik also was involved in, hockey, taekwondo, and cross country.
We asked Erik how he found out about Olivet. He told us that when he was a senior in High School, he was not sure if he wanted to swim or not in college, but one of his friends was on the Swim Team here at Olivet. His father told him he should at least apply and reach out to the coach, and he told us the rest was history! When we asked Erik what his post-Graduation plans were, he said he has nothing set in stone yet. He does plan to Graduate and find a job within the Mechanical Engineering field.
The last question we ask our Student-Athletes here at Olivet is, if they could give one piece of advice for prospective student-athletes looking to come to Olive. Erik told us, "Do not take things too seriously, where you are no longer having fun. Enjoy this short time as much as possible because once it is gone, it is gone."
Jennifer Paul
Within every athlete, there is one story that stand out the most when it comes to how they got involved in their sport. Jennifer's swimming career began at the age of five and she began competing. From a very young age, she found the passion and love for the sport, and that is why she is doing it at the collegiate level.
Jennifer had a different story of how and when she found Olivet. At the time, after her freshman year in college, she was looking to leave the school she was at in North Carolina. She was looking at the school current head swim and dive coach Kelly Essler was at. After her and coach Essler connected, she was committed to swim at the previous school Coach Essler was at. But in the meantime, Coach Essler was then offered the head coaching job at ONU and she ask Jennifer if she would be willing to come with her to ONU.
Jennifer has set-in-stone post-graduation plan. Paul plans on going to Physical Therapy school and getting her Doctorate degree within the field of Physical Therapy. Along with being a Physical Therapist, she would love to coach a local swim team or even starting her own swim club.
Then, we asked Paul what is one piece of advice you would give to prospective student-athletes that are coming to ONU. Jennifer told us, that "us athletes need to work hard day in and day out. She said that being a student-athlete is a blessing that not everyone is able to do. Enjoy your time in college because it sure does go by fast!"
We would like to wish Erik and Jennifer nothing but the best in their future endeavors, and we sure will miss seeing them in that pool!
Contact: Ryan Jemar, Sports Information Intern, rjemar@olivet.edu