Not only does USC boast world-class athletes, but world-class student-athletes as well. Each month we will profile one of these outstanding Trojans who has chosen to pursue coursework in either the science, technology, engineering or math field (STEM).
Name:Alexandra Collatz
Sport: Track and Field
Year: Senior
Major: Cognitive Science
Sarah Bergstrom (SB): Why did you come to USC? It's probably strange to think about now, four years later.
Alexandra Collatz (AC): I came to USC because it's close to home, I could see my family still and the track program is awesome. Coach Dan is a legend.
SB: Explain to me what your major is, cognitive science? What exactly do you study?
AC: It's basically psychology with a little bit more flexibility of classes. So I've been able to take linguistics classes and philosophy in addition to my psychology courses.
SB: Did you know you wanted to do that when you were a freshman?
AC: I took a psychology class in high school and really liked it and knew that maybe that would be something I wanted to do. But I was undecided when I came into USC because I needed some time to figure it out.
SB: Have you liked what you've studied?
AC: I've loved my classes! I'm not sure I'm going to actually go into anything related to it as far as a career, but the classes have been great and it's been totally worth it. I really enjoyed my linguistics class and I think I'm going to end up in a career that's speech-related, so in that sense, my major helped me figure out what I wanted to do.
SB: Along that track, do you have any idea of what you hope to do down the road?
AC: The problem is I have lots of ideas (laughs) so choosing one is the problem. I know I want to work with kids with disabilities, but that's pretty broad. I think I want work in either speech pathology or with deaf children or in occupational therapy or even just teaching special ed, something along those lines.
SB: Where did that specific desire come from? Have you been involved with anything while you've been at USC working with kids and disabilities?
AC: Actually there was a Special Olympics event we went to with our team for community service last year. I loved it. It was over by the Coliseum and we hosted a race or something. It was so inspiring to get to work with them and so much fun. That's really what led me to want to work with kids with disabilities. USC has a great Occupational Therapy program so I started thinking about that and my linguistics class made me start thinking about speech therapy. So it's a lot but I just want to find some combination of everything.
SB: With everything you have going on academically, you are also a two-time All-American and a fantastic discus athlete. Has it been hard to balance classes and extracurricular activities with track?
AC: It can be hard. But I like that our season is in the spring and all the important periods, like NCAAs and all of that, happen when school is out. That means I can really focus on school while I'm in school and really focus on track during track season.
SB: You are less than two feet away from the USC discus record, does that keep you up at night? Is breaking the record one of your biggest goals for this season?
AC: It's definitely something I want to get but I try not to be so numbers oriented because that makes it not as fun when that's all you're worried about. Of course I want to get the record but my priority is making sure every meet is fun and enjoying the competition and just getting better. It's no fun if you're too focused on that stuff all the time.
SB: What is your outlook going into your senior season of track?
AC: I like the steady progression I've made since I've been here. So if I have another season that's better than the last then I'll be happy. Obviously I'd like to continue succeeding at all the big meets too but as long as I'm progressing I have nothing to be worried about.
