Staying balanced

The GSR was developed by the NCAA as a more modern and accurate assessment of the graduation rate. The GSR takes into account athletes in every sport, students who enroll midyear, and transfers. In contrast, a similar federal score ends up penalizing schools for outgoing transfers, even though they are in good academic standing when they leave.

“We are extremely proud of how our student athletes perform both in competition and in the classroom,” said Director of Athletics Steve Watson in Loyola magazine. “The NCAA data shows that we are on the right track in preparing our student athletes for life after Loyola, and the fact that we have done that while maintaining a high level of success on the playing fields shows how special Loyola can be.”

It’s something faculty notice too. Since 1999 Professor Nenad Jukić has been teaching at Loyola, and in that time has had his fair share of athletes in class. Last year, it was Bruno Skokna, a finance major, in his Database and Data Warehousing Systems course. The then-sophomore was named one of the Elite 17 Winners this year by the Missouri Valley Conference. The highest honor for men’s basketball, the recognition is given to a student with the highest cumulative GPA and whose team performed well in the conference.

While their lives might be more complicated during the season, Jukić doesn’t often hear them complain. Players reach out to faculty early in the semester to get their homework done in advance. Skokna was particularly proactive—and didn’t missed a single assignment, despite being in the NCAA tournament.

“Last summer, both Clayton [Custer] and Ben [Richardson] actually had internships,” said Jukić, during the men's 2018 March Madness run. “They went to companies, they did their internships, they’re taking care of their future. Now one is MVP, and the other one is best defensive player. They have still done everything that any other business student would do.”

On top of studying for tests and playing on the court, Loyola’s student-athletes can easily be found giving back to the community. Throughout the year, the men’s team volunteers with Misericordia Heart of Mercy, which serves more than 600 children and adults with mild to profound developmental disabilities.

“It's always a busy schedule. You just have to find that balance,” said Ingram. “Making sure you're on track to graduate, and having good grades, and being able to perform on the court—it's a good challenge, but I'm up for it.”