Lehigh University Athletics
Cassie Barker: Fostering the student-athlete environment
5/13/2015 10:33:00 AM | Women's Rowing, Student Athlete
By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Media Relations
Senior rower Cassie Barker spent last summer in Croatia as part of the Iacocca International Internship Program. While overseas, she worked in an area that Lehigh University and Lehigh Athletics stress… academics.
"As a student-athlete, I stress academics very highly. I have high standards for myself," said Barker. "Since freshman year, I have prioritized academics and wanted to make sure that if I'm participating in a Division I sport, I would still be able to maintain my grades and perform well academically. When I was applying to the (Iacocca Internship) program and saw a position focused on finding a way for these athletes to also be successful in the classroom, I jumped at the opportunity."
Barker's position was with a business school, which includes professional athletes who attend the institution.
"It was my job to create a program for the professional athletes, trying to help them succeed," she said. "It was basically how to be an athlete while also performing well academically. We were setting up a program to make it easier for them to be a student-athlete, still participate in their sport while also performing in the classroom."
Barker has first-hand experience in balancing academics with athletics. That challenge is arguably greater in Croatia considering they're professional athletes.
"I wanted to help foster that same kind of environment as Lehigh," she said. "As professional athletes, I'm sure their schedule is even more intense than we face here. Their sport is their first priority, then they're getting their degree as a backup."
Barker looked to implement some very tangible (and extremely important) initiatives to help these professional athletes earn their degrees.
"Before we started, we were told by our bosses that a lot of athletes don't attend class because their schedule doesn't allow them to," she said. "One of the things we were trying to implement was a distance education program, classes where lectures would be posted online and students would be able to view them at home or whenever was most convenient for them. Even though they're not in class, they're still getting the same education and material from the professors as all the other students."
It's fitting that Barker interned in the academic setting because academics (not athletics) was why she initially came to Lehigh. A former swimmer and runner in high school, she thought her days as an athlete were in the rearview mirror.
"Coming into college, I wanted to put athletics behind me and focus on school," said Barker. "But then, I was approached by the Lehigh Rowing freshmen coach one of the first couple weeks of school. There was a bunch of students out recruiting trying to find people. I decided to go to the first information meeting and see what it was about."
Barker was totally new to the sport of rowing and couldn't have told a stranger anything about the sport. However, she went to the boathouse for the first practice and really liked it.
"From then on, there was a group of freshmen who really clicked, so that gave even more of a reason to stay on the team," said Barker. "I didn't realize what kind of a commitment it was and didn't know if rowing was something I really wanted to do. However, as I got more into it, I realized it was something that I really wanted to do for all four years of college."
Barker and her classmates enjoyed immediate success as freshmen.
"I would definitely say one of my most successful seasons was our freshmen season," said Barker. "It's hard to pinpoint specific races because in pretty much all the races in the spring season, we had solid performances."
Barker has continued to enjoy success at Lehigh, rowing in every boat in her time in the brown and white. The Harrison City, Pennsylvania native switched between the eight and the four as a sophomore, rowing in the Varsity Four, Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight as a junior while primarily rowing in the Second Varsity Eight in her senior season. She's had a taste of every boat that competes at the Patriot League Championships.
There are significant differences between the boats, but Barker has adjusted.
"The four is really different, but I personally really like the four," she said. "It's more difficult in that the boat isn't as set since there are less people. It can tend to be a lot more wobbly on the water just due to wind and other conditions. At the same time, there are only three other people, so there are fewer people trying to match up with each other. On the other hand, if something's wrong with your technique, the boat is much more easily affected."
Barker has found a home with rowing… a niche… a calling.
"Cassie is a true team player and athlete," said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. "She does what we've expected out of every athlete, but to a profound level. She puts her focus on making people faster around her to make her boat faster."
"Rowing is so different from any sport that I've done," she said. "Swimming and running, even though they're team sports, are very individualized. In rowing, there's up to seven other rowers in your boat and a coxswain. If one of you is off time or has a slightly different stroke or technical error, it affects the whole boat. Something the coaches have really stressed is that you can't do it alone. If you're behind, one person can't make the boat go faster. It has to be all eight people in the boat."
Barker has been a key part of the rise of Lehigh Rowing, which has continued to make strides year after year. There was individualized success towards the beginning of Barker's career, but the collective success amongst the group continues to reach new heights. One example is last weekend when every Lehigh boats was in contention to advance at the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta. From top to bottom, a culture is being formed and it's people like Barker who help foster the positive environment.
"Our training schedule has really been upped and people have been really buying into our training, which is really paying off," said Barker. "We put in a lot of work over the winter break and winter training when we're indoors focused on strength and conditioning."
"Cassie without a doubt raised the bar this past winter," said Conley. "She would come straight to practice from lab and hit gold medal standards of improvement. It was something that a coach rarely sees, especially when she would have to complete the workout a lot of times on her own."
The standard Barker has helped create doesn't go unnoticed by her teammates.
"Cassie is incredibly competitive and her drive to succeed has been contagious throughout the team," said senior Corey Johnson. "She is super tough and never fails to prove it at practice."
"Cassie works her butt off day in and day out. I can always trust that she's going to be pulling her hardest on every stroke, in every piece," said classmate Leah Paulson. "She always keeps a positive attitude in the boat and also provides comic relief."
Outside of rowing, Barker is looking to get into the health care field. After coming into Lehigh as an aspiring engineer, she changed her major to Biochemistry and now, Biology.
"I'm planning on applying to graduate school for physician assistant studies," she said. "I'm going to apply this summer, so I'll have a year off before I'd start the two-year master's program."
With help of Johnson, a senior classmate and fellow Biology major, the two have gotten through the academic rigors together.
"We have taken a lot of the same classes, so I have seen first-hand how well she is able to handle both aspects of her life," said Johnson. "I'm so grateful to have such a great study buddy as one of my teammates. She really helped me this year."
For Barker, knowing that she's not going through the academic and athletic rigors alone has provided a sense of comfort. On the water, Barker, Johnson and Paulson have gone through the rise of the rowing program together.
"Being able to share in success brings you really close," said Barker, who was named the team's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. "We always talk about how we have four different teams. Your team as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. Corey and Leah are the only two people who have been a part of every single one of those teams. We've definitely formed a special bond."
One of the reasons for the bond has been a similarity between the three seniors.
"We're all really serious about our academics, passionate about rowing and really hard workers," said Paulson. "We all started out on the quieter side, but in our four years, here really grew into more vocal leadership roles. I think we get along so well because we have a lot of similar characteristics."
Barker entered Lehigh an engineering major who wasn't planning on playing a sport. She's leaving a Biology major with tremendous experiences, a bright future and a lover of rowing.
"When the boat is set and everyone's in time, you're moving so fast that you don't feel like you're putting that much work in," she said. "When you have the right conditions - no wind, flat water - it's this feeling that you can't get from anything else."
Senior rower Cassie Barker spent last summer in Croatia as part of the Iacocca International Internship Program. While overseas, she worked in an area that Lehigh University and Lehigh Athletics stress… academics.
"As a student-athlete, I stress academics very highly. I have high standards for myself," said Barker. "Since freshman year, I have prioritized academics and wanted to make sure that if I'm participating in a Division I sport, I would still be able to maintain my grades and perform well academically. When I was applying to the (Iacocca Internship) program and saw a position focused on finding a way for these athletes to also be successful in the classroom, I jumped at the opportunity."
Barker's position was with a business school, which includes professional athletes who attend the institution.
"It was my job to create a program for the professional athletes, trying to help them succeed," she said. "It was basically how to be an athlete while also performing well academically. We were setting up a program to make it easier for them to be a student-athlete, still participate in their sport while also performing in the classroom."
Barker has first-hand experience in balancing academics with athletics. That challenge is arguably greater in Croatia considering they're professional athletes.
"I wanted to help foster that same kind of environment as Lehigh," she said. "As professional athletes, I'm sure their schedule is even more intense than we face here. Their sport is their first priority, then they're getting their degree as a backup."
Barker looked to implement some very tangible (and extremely important) initiatives to help these professional athletes earn their degrees.
"Before we started, we were told by our bosses that a lot of athletes don't attend class because their schedule doesn't allow them to," she said. "One of the things we were trying to implement was a distance education program, classes where lectures would be posted online and students would be able to view them at home or whenever was most convenient for them. Even though they're not in class, they're still getting the same education and material from the professors as all the other students."
It's fitting that Barker interned in the academic setting because academics (not athletics) was why she initially came to Lehigh. A former swimmer and runner in high school, she thought her days as an athlete were in the rearview mirror.
"Coming into college, I wanted to put athletics behind me and focus on school," said Barker. "But then, I was approached by the Lehigh Rowing freshmen coach one of the first couple weeks of school. There was a bunch of students out recruiting trying to find people. I decided to go to the first information meeting and see what it was about."
Barker was totally new to the sport of rowing and couldn't have told a stranger anything about the sport. However, she went to the boathouse for the first practice and really liked it.
"From then on, there was a group of freshmen who really clicked, so that gave even more of a reason to stay on the team," said Barker. "I didn't realize what kind of a commitment it was and didn't know if rowing was something I really wanted to do. However, as I got more into it, I realized it was something that I really wanted to do for all four years of college."
Barker and her classmates enjoyed immediate success as freshmen.
"I would definitely say one of my most successful seasons was our freshmen season," said Barker. "It's hard to pinpoint specific races because in pretty much all the races in the spring season, we had solid performances."
Barker has continued to enjoy success at Lehigh, rowing in every boat in her time in the brown and white. The Harrison City, Pennsylvania native switched between the eight and the four as a sophomore, rowing in the Varsity Four, Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight as a junior while primarily rowing in the Second Varsity Eight in her senior season. She's had a taste of every boat that competes at the Patriot League Championships.
There are significant differences between the boats, but Barker has adjusted.
"The four is really different, but I personally really like the four," she said. "It's more difficult in that the boat isn't as set since there are less people. It can tend to be a lot more wobbly on the water just due to wind and other conditions. At the same time, there are only three other people, so there are fewer people trying to match up with each other. On the other hand, if something's wrong with your technique, the boat is much more easily affected."
Barker has found a home with rowing… a niche… a calling.
"Cassie is a true team player and athlete," said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. "She does what we've expected out of every athlete, but to a profound level. She puts her focus on making people faster around her to make her boat faster."
"Rowing is so different from any sport that I've done," she said. "Swimming and running, even though they're team sports, are very individualized. In rowing, there's up to seven other rowers in your boat and a coxswain. If one of you is off time or has a slightly different stroke or technical error, it affects the whole boat. Something the coaches have really stressed is that you can't do it alone. If you're behind, one person can't make the boat go faster. It has to be all eight people in the boat."
Barker has been a key part of the rise of Lehigh Rowing, which has continued to make strides year after year. There was individualized success towards the beginning of Barker's career, but the collective success amongst the group continues to reach new heights. One example is last weekend when every Lehigh boats was in contention to advance at the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta. From top to bottom, a culture is being formed and it's people like Barker who help foster the positive environment.
"Our training schedule has really been upped and people have been really buying into our training, which is really paying off," said Barker. "We put in a lot of work over the winter break and winter training when we're indoors focused on strength and conditioning."
"Cassie without a doubt raised the bar this past winter," said Conley. "She would come straight to practice from lab and hit gold medal standards of improvement. It was something that a coach rarely sees, especially when she would have to complete the workout a lot of times on her own."
The standard Barker has helped create doesn't go unnoticed by her teammates.
"Cassie is incredibly competitive and her drive to succeed has been contagious throughout the team," said senior Corey Johnson. "She is super tough and never fails to prove it at practice."
"Cassie works her butt off day in and day out. I can always trust that she's going to be pulling her hardest on every stroke, in every piece," said classmate Leah Paulson. "She always keeps a positive attitude in the boat and also provides comic relief."
Outside of rowing, Barker is looking to get into the health care field. After coming into Lehigh as an aspiring engineer, she changed her major to Biochemistry and now, Biology.
"I'm planning on applying to graduate school for physician assistant studies," she said. "I'm going to apply this summer, so I'll have a year off before I'd start the two-year master's program."
With help of Johnson, a senior classmate and fellow Biology major, the two have gotten through the academic rigors together.
"We have taken a lot of the same classes, so I have seen first-hand how well she is able to handle both aspects of her life," said Johnson. "I'm so grateful to have such a great study buddy as one of my teammates. She really helped me this year."
For Barker, knowing that she's not going through the academic and athletic rigors alone has provided a sense of comfort. On the water, Barker, Johnson and Paulson have gone through the rise of the rowing program together.
"Being able to share in success brings you really close," said Barker, who was named the team's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. "We always talk about how we have four different teams. Your team as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. Corey and Leah are the only two people who have been a part of every single one of those teams. We've definitely formed a special bond."
One of the reasons for the bond has been a similarity between the three seniors.
"We're all really serious about our academics, passionate about rowing and really hard workers," said Paulson. "We all started out on the quieter side, but in our four years, here really grew into more vocal leadership roles. I think we get along so well because we have a lot of similar characteristics."
Barker entered Lehigh an engineering major who wasn't planning on playing a sport. She's leaving a Biology major with tremendous experiences, a bright future and a lover of rowing.
"When the boat is set and everyone's in time, you're moving so fast that you don't feel like you're putting that much work in," she said. "When you have the right conditions - no wind, flat water - it's this feeling that you can't get from anything else."
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