Ohio Wesleyan Magazine - Ohio Wesleyan University

In the Running
SenIOr MarIe ryMUt PROvES THAT ATHLETES CAN BE SCHOLARS—AND vICE vERSA.
By Pam Besel
Don’t let OWU senior Marie Rymut’s perfect 4.0 grade-point
average fool you. Or the fact that this genetics/politics and
government/pre-med triple major with minors in history and
chemistry makes time to head up WCSA (Wesleyan Council on
Student Affairs), working with the university’s 60-plus student
organizations.
Marie Rymut also happens to be a heck of an athlete—excelling
in middle-distance running—who has placed well and
frequently at several indoor and outdoor North Coast Athletic
Conference track and field tournaments. She is a scholar-athlete
in the flesh.
“I love to run,” she says, acknowledging almost sorrowfully
the detours she has encountered from her sport—some pleasant,
some not—like inflamed tonsils (headed for removal soon),
or her semester-long internship with Congressman Tim Ryan, as
part of Rymut’s Wesleyan in Washington experience last year. (“It
was during that time that I fully realized my interest in health
care policy development.”)
But running, as inspiring and invigorating as it is for Rymut,
complements rather than characterizes her college experience.
What really drives this OWU Presidential Scholar and recipient
of the prestigious Schimmel Scholarship, as she sees it, is “betterment
of the whole. At the end of the day, how am I helping
other people and giving back [to the world] any strengths and
attributes that I have?”
It’s late in the day on a Thursday, early last month. Looking
as bright and energetic as though she might have been visiting at
the start of that day, Rymut exudes a sense of purpose and passion
for just about anything she may set as a priority in her life.
“I have to admit that I put pressure on myself, and I think
about everything I do, and won’t take something on unless I
know I can do it well,” she says.
Rymut continues that thought by describing her work as
WCSA’s President.
“I’ve loved it, partly because I enjoy exploring the bureaucracy
of universities, and helping to push for what the students
want,” she explains. On her success list are such projects as
the renovation of Smith Hall, helping to get Café 1842 started
(see our story at connect2.owu.edu/ourtown/224.php), pushing
for a smoke-free OWU, “cleaning up” WCSA’s 35-year-old
Constitution, and working with the alumni office to pull current
students into that realm before they graduate.
“Unity is my primary focus,” says Rymut. Her energy has
been focused on working with the array of Ohio Wesleyan’s
student organizations to increase participation at programs and
events and to “rethink how we can better function as a whole.”
She smiles as she describes the bonfire during Homecoming,
and more than 600 students who were there.
“That had everything to do with timing, good planning, and
cooperation.” And everything about Marie Rymut is about careful
planning and organization.
“My [day] planner is color-coded, and I don’t go back to
my dorm room until I am ready to sleep!” And somehow, she
seems to thrive on only four or five hours of sleep each night.
That extreme work ethic had its roots in Rymut’s childhood,
although her parents never pressured her in any way.
“I am really bugged when people sit around and talk about
a problem without trying to come up with a workable solution,”
she says.
These days, Rymut is thinking more and more about next
year as she applies to medical schools. Still on her career radar
screen are other interests in law and health care policy—or perhaps
a possibility of combining the two.
(continued on page 18)
Winter 2006 17