Engineering students are well represented among the 2024 Academic All-Big Ten honors. Meet three of these outstanding student athletes and learn how their athletic and engineering experiences are helping prepare them for the next step.
Sofia Beerworth
Sofia Beerworth is a third-year civil engineering major and a defender on the women’s soccer team. She played her first season at Michigan State University in 2023, having transferred from New Mexico State University after her freshman year. Her contributions helped lead her Spartan team to a 7-1-3 conference season, assisting in five goals and scoring against Wisconsin.
“Being a student athlete exposes us to a lot of hardships that prepare us for our future and let us have experiences that maybe not every student has,” Beerworth said. “Working in high stress situations, teamwork, and how to manage time, are all things that I have faced as an athlete.”
Will Eby
Will Eby is a second-year mechanical engineering major and plays on the men’s soccer team. Prior to playing at MSU, he was team captain at Northville High School. At that time, he was ranked as one of the top defensive players in the state of Michigan. This past season he started in all 16 games and scored two points against Villanova and Rutgers.
Eby has maintained a 4.0 GPA while balancing his studies and athletic career.
“It's extremely rewarding, and there's going to be tough times - in your sport, in academics and socially,” said Eby. “At the end of the day, if there is a genuine passion and love for both sides of the coin, both the academic and athletic side, then the reward is gonna be much greater than all the struggles that you've got.”
Tyler Pritchett
Tyler Pritchett is a fifth-year senior studying computer science and applied engineering sciences. He is also a member of the track and field team, specializing in the steeplechase. That race is a 3000m event where participants jump over hurdles, otherwise known as steeples, with one of those hurdles having water under it.
He has accepted a position with Dow Chemical and will join their IT group after graduation.
“Being a student athlete at Michigan State is an incredible privilege and opportunity, and I've been very grateful that I've been able to do it,” said Pritchett. “It has been a lot of work being both an athlete and an engineer, but all the support I have been able to receive, and the friends I’ve been able to make in my classes and sport have been well worth it.”
In all, 12 students from the College of Engineering earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in Fall 2024. Read the full story.
View original story published by Spartan Athletics
Written by Maggie Dillon, a student writer and public relations assistant in the MSU College of Engineering Marketing and Communications office.
MSU College of Engineering Media and Public Relations page