What’s up, everyone? I hope all is going well!
Last week, Colorado State Pueblo football went on the road to play the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers in Rapid City. In my world, there was a conflict of interest in several ways. Having graduated from South Dakota Mines with my brother on the football team, I now play basketball at Colorado State-Pueblo. The game’s result was CSUP winning 35-6 on August 29.
Since it is football season, I want this post to give insight into my brother, Rylan Walter, and his life as a student-athlete at South Dakota Mines by discussing his current experience.
Since he is in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, you will see my academic life, as that is my undergraduate degree. Rylan wants to graduate in three years to set himself up for the future and get a master’s degree while playing football instead of returning to school.
Rylan is taking 14 credits because of all his hard work in high school and this summer after his first year of college. He came into college with roughly 30 credits already done because of AP classes he took during high school, a feat I was not close to.
His class schedule is ENGM 535 Optimization Techniques, IENG 311 Work Methods and Measurements, Lab, IENG 331 Safety Engineering, IENG 354 Marketing Tech Innovations, and IENG 486 Stat Quality and Process Control.
This summer, Rylan took Calculus 3, Industrial Psychology, and a Cooperative Program that gave him two credits for his internship. He had a cool internship with Tech Labs, where he came in once or twice a week and got an insight into what they do.
During the internship, they showed him how to operate two Fanuc robots that stack blocks, weld, and act within a system. Rylan also uses virtual reality and screen simulators for medical, automotive, safety, and heavy machinery training simulations. The goal is to sell simulators and train people on them instead of real life because it allows people to try things without accidents and learn without fear of damage. Lastly, he utilized 3D scanners and printers to replicate 3D objects.
Rylan is a backup quarterback who helps signal plays on the sideline while being ready for action if the starter goes down. Naturally, I have been accustomed to being the family member playing while everyone was there supporting me.
As a kid, Rylan was dragged around from basketball tournament to tournament. He came to all my high school games and was present for everything as the younger brother. I am sure many families have similar experiences with athletics, and with our age gap, I went to college when he started high school as a freshman.
Watching his games while he was away has always been tougher for me, but we have figured out a way to make it work. In high school, he gave me his password to Hudl, which is software that shows all their game films for coaches and players to watch. I would log in the next day and watch his games.
I could watch some of his high school games in person before I took off to college and flew back one weekend to watch his senior year. Last Thursday was the first game he was eligible to play in, as he redshirted last year.
It was an incredibly cool feeling to see him on the live stream, realize what he is accomplishing both with football and academically, and know that he followed me to the same place that I did.
