sweet briar magazine inside - Sweet Briar College

BuSY SCHEDuLE,
Diverse Interests
aLex St. Pierre PICKED uP A
HOCKEY STICK for the first time in high
school because her mother made her choose
a team sport. until then, all she wanted to
do was ride horses.
Now the junior classical languages
major from South Hamilton, Mass.,
considers it one of her mother’s best
parenting decisions. Sports, she says, have
given her confidence and skill in
competition and the ability to handle
herself with grace in both
victory and defeat.
At Sweet Briar Alex is a
midfielder on the Vixens field
hockey team. She has been
named to the Old Dominion
Athletic Conference All-
Academic team the past two
years. She also is an Honors
Scholar and this year’s recipient
of the Betty Bean Black and J.A.
Moore scholarships.
She is combining her
major with minors in music and
biology. Each plays to her varied
interests: e classics because she loves the
ancient Greek and Roman cultures and
grasps the intrinsic value of the major’s
encompassing nature; music because she
loves to sing and “wanted a better
understanding of music on the whole —
both its theory and practice”; and biology
because she’s also completing pre-vet
requirements.
Rather than competing against one
another, she finds the pace and variety of
her commitments keep her focused,
especially during hockey season. “I often
find that I have more free time in season
because it dictates that the schedule of my
day be carefully planned,” she says.
“Another advantage to having multiple
interests is that I can never claim boredom.
When I get tired of reading about the rise
of the Roman Empire, I go and hang out
with my horse. When I’m sick of smelling
like a barn, I dress up and sing opera in the
chapel and when I’m ready to compete
again I head out to the field.”
at doesn’t mean Alex doesn’t
sometimes think about homing in on one
thing. Before entering vet school, she’s
considering dedicating a year with her
horse, Aidan, on the three-day eventing
training circuit.
“I have never had the opportunity
given my other commitments,” she says. “It
would be a fantastic opportunity to see how
far I could go and how well we can perform
when I work single-mindedly towards one
goal — a very unusual circumstance for a
Sweet Briar woman!”
“shinnies” and “boots” for the first time since midway through her
sophomore season. “I’ve hit some bumps in the road this season due to
the healing process, but I know that I can push my way through it, and
that it’s all about being in the right defensive position,” she says.
Coach Kevin Fabulich saw the growth in Sam, an outside right
back defender from Shady Side, Md. And she’s helped him position the
team for the future. “She is much more team focused, on and off the
field,” he says. “Last year she acted as my recruiting assistant and was
instrumental in bringing in the biggest and best recruiting class SBC
soccer has had.”
While sidelined from the sport she’s loved since third grade, life
went on for Sam, who won this year’s Rebecca Tomlinson Lindblom
Award for excellence in philosophy and religion. She is double majoring
in both disciplines. Since she was a little girl she’s asked questions about
faith, free will versus determinism, and “why people bicker over
religions when they have the same idea about God.”
She is thinking about pursuing a doctorate in religion with a focus
on Christianity and interfaith dialogue. She wants to have that
conversation “whether or not everyone else wants to,” she says.
SBC.EDU | SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE
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