By: Paul Duncan

Who and Where: Anna Poponyak is a learning specialist with Services for Student Athletes (SSA) at the University of Oregon. She was a student athlete at Oregon, playing lacrosse and majoring in economics and planning, public policy and management. She also received a Master’s in Educational Leadership from the UO.

What it/they do/does: SSA provides academic support to UO student athletes. It is made up of 6 learning specialists, 5 academic advisors, over 80 tutors and some tech support and administrative staff. It is housed in the Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes.

Impact: Anna and SSA help make life for all student athletes more manageable. They primarily help athletes with school, but also form relationships with and encourage athletes more broadly. SSA is especially helpful to injured athletes as it works to keep them engaged and on track academically during what can be a difficult process.

Funding: Both the UO Athletic Department and the University fund SSA. Anna, like most of the other SSA staff, is an employee of the University rather than the Athletic Department.

Success story: Anna spoke about a specific, but anonymous, case where a student athlete was in a situation where the only way he could have another year of eligibility was to graduate by the next academic year. The student took and passed 33 credits during summer term while meeting often with Anna to achieve that.

Parting words: “It’s all connected. That’s the funny thing. People think it’s so separate. But it’s like, if a student is injured they’re probably depressed. And if a student is depressed they’re probably not doing well in school. It’s so funny how they try and separate all this stuff, but you really have to look at it all in a very holistic manner because they’re all so intertwined.”