Eyes on the Prize: Student-athletes find home and purpose in Auburn’s College of Education

For several student-athletes, the College of Education is at the heart of their experience, from the support they receive to the skills they choose to master to forge their way in the world and truly make a difference.

Gymnast Sophia Groth, wheelchair basketball and tennis player Evan Heller, cross-country runner Hannah Tarwater, and football player Elijah McAllister all came to the Plains with lofty goals: to elevate themselves in their sports and in the classroom. Being a full-time student and athlete is no small feat, but each of them have found ways to make a home on campus and lean into the full Auburn Experience.

For Sophia Groth, becoming a well-rounded individual was her top priority. Although being the best gymnast she can be is important to her, so is being a good student and a good friend. She began balancing the different aspects of her life as a high schooler, and knew that she wanted to go to college somewhere that would allow her to excel in all areas, not just gymnastics. So she chose Auburn.

Over the past several years, she has found a home in the College of Education’s School of Kinesiology. Groth is pursuing a degree in exercise science with the goal of becoming a college gymnastics coach one day.

“Learning how the body moves, knowing specific drills to run, how to rehab, and plenty of other things I’m learning are applicable to gymnastics, especially when it comes to learning how to take care of yourself as an athlete,” she said.

As a student-athlete, Groth is especially thankful for the College of Education’s flexibility with her busy schedule, especially in the spring semester during the gymnastics season.

“My professors have been very supportive,” Groth said. “On the first day of class each semester, I make an effort to speak with my teachers and explain that I’m a student-athlete. It’s amazing to have that support, because if I didn’t, I know that school could be a lot harder.”

Groth also credits her advisors and resources in the School of Kinesiology for her academic success. From weekly email updates to drop-in Zoom sessions, it is easy to stay in the know, and she appreciates how her advisor has helped adapt her school plans to her own unique needs.

“For anyone who is interested in this kind of career path, exercise science is a great vehicle to get you there, because it’s generalized enough that you have flexibility to choose a wide variety of careers, but it’s focused enough that you can learn exactly what you need to excel in whichever career path you choose,” said Groth.

Gymnastics and academics keep her busy but Groth’s heart for serving others compels her to pour back into the Auburn community.

“I want to have a positive impact on as many people as possible,” she said. “I want to leave Auburn even better than I found it.”

During the past two years, Groth has visited elementary and preschools — reading to students, providing gymnastics demonstrations and serving on leadership panels. She also participated in local food drives and led a toy drive benefitting BigHouse, an organization that works to help meet the needs of foster families in central Alabama. In 2023, she was named to the Southeastern Conference Community Service Team.

Groth also served as Vice President of Auburn University’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee. The group’s purpose is to enhance the overall experience of student athletes and provide them with a voice to the administration, the SEC, and the NCAA.

“I see it as an investment of my time,” she said. “It honestly fills up my tank, probably more than it does for those I’m serving when I am involved in community activities, because I just have a passion for helping people.”

When asked what “the Auburn Experience” means to her, Groth summed it up in three words: tradition, service and love. She says you can’t beat the feeling of a tradition, knowing that generations of people experienced the same things on Auburn’s campus. And as a servant leader, Groth marvels at the fact that she is in the majority on the Plains — she believes so many around her also want to serve others.

“And then the love. You can’t beat it,” she said. “I can’t even wrap my brain around it. I’m in an arena every Friday night, between the months of January through March, and almost 10,000 people show up—people who often don’t even know gymnastics. That is love. That’s the Auburn Family.”

She will graduate in May and plans to pursue a master’s degree in administration, supervision and curriculum—also in the College of Education. Groth’s ultimate goal now is to maximize the 24 hours in every day to make the most of her time she has left on the Plains.

Evan Heller has loved sports since he was a little kid. He got into the wheelchair basketball league in Wooster, Ohio, and had the opportunity to play the sport as a high school athlete. He also participated in track at his high school, and played hockey when he was younger.

Now a senior, Heller’s main reason for enrolling at Auburn was the opportunity to continue playing adapted athletics, both wheelchair basketball and tennis. During most of the year, Heller balances a full classload with practices, weightlifting and conditioning for multiple sports.

“I keep a schedule for all that,” said Heller, explaining his day-to-day routine as a multi-sport athlete. “I have a bunch of alarms that will go off to help me remember to go places or do things. It feels like I’m always moving, always doing stuff, but I love it. I wouldn’t change anything.”

He is especially thankful for his professors and advisors in the College of Education who have gone above and beyond to accommodate him as a student-athlete in their classes.

“They are really understanding. Whenever I email in my travel excuses or ask for any work I may have missed, they ask me how I’m doing and how I did in the tournament,” he said. “It’s just so helpful, and they really do care.”

Heller’s life experiences had a big influence on his decision to major in special education at Auburn. He attended a camp in Ohio, Flying Horse Farms, that creates a summer camp experience for people with all types of disabilities. Heller was a camper, then a counselor, and fell in love with teaching and mentoring others, especially those with disabilities.

“I love teaching, but I also love that I’ve been through similar circumstances as some of the students, so I get to relate to them on a different level,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of students in wheelchairs and they look up to me, because in their classes they’re the only one in wheelchairs, so when they see someone like them teaching class, I think it’s pretty cool.”

Although his wheelchair indicates he has a disability, Heller says people around campus treat him like any other athlete. As a freshman, he lived with other student-athletes in a campus dorm building, and people frequently recognize him as a wheelchair basketball player. These are things that shape his Auburn Experience.

“For me, the Auburn Experience is waking up at 5 a.m. for practice, having fun competing, going to class from about 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., going to football games on Saturdays, having fun with friends. It’s all of it,” he said.

After graduation, Heller plans to be a special education teacher. His favorite environment is elementary, but his degree will allow him to teach grades K-12. He also hopes to stay involved in adapted athletics through the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, or the NWBA, which has various leagues and teams all over the country. He could also travel overseas to play.

“I can’t explain how grateful I am to be in the College of Education, and how big of an impact it has had on my life,” Heller said. “My biggest goal is to get a degree and become a teacher, and I’m just very appreciative for everyone who has helped me get here to this point.”

After taking up cross-country running in eighth grade, Hannah Tarwater knew she wanted to be a college athlete and was determined to find the school that would best support her in all her endeavors, both academically and athletically. As a first-grader, she decided she would be a teacher when she grew up, and as she got older, she fell in love with running. She visited the Plains in high school and eventually saw Auburn as an incredible place to pursue her career goals and athletic ambitions.

As an elementary education major, Tarwater worked with students in a variety of schools in Lee County, and soon knew she ultimately wanted to teach in a school that was struggling to provide highly qualified teachers to their students. She added a minor in Spanish because she loves the language, but also because she wants to bridge the communication gap with Spanish-speaking students and families.

Following her graduation in 2022, Tarwater began working toward her master’s degree in elementary education. With another year of athletic eligibility, there was more she wanted to accomplish—on the field and in the classroom—to better prepare herself to teach in underserved communities.

“I felt pretty confident teaching the general population, but the two places I was lacking experience in were teaching students who are learning English as a second, third or fourth language, as well as those with a range of special needs,” she said. “So those were the things that I really want to get out of my master’s program.”

Tarwater also completed several graduate certificates to add to her degrees, all while balancing her schedule as a student-athlete with her academics. She conducted a research project that focused on testing instructional strategies for multilingual leaners, and her work with Spanish-speaking students further solidified her desire to become a resource for students learning English in her career.

Auburn’s College of Education worked closely with Tarwater to ensure she could fulfill all the requirements, including various internships and assessments, to become a teacher while still competing in cross-country and track.

“My professors have always worked well with me, especially when it comes to accommodating my athletics schedule,” she said. “I have loved my professors in the College of Education. I know they will always be people I can reach out to, and they’ll continue to encourage me.”

For Tarwater, the support she has received throughout her time on the Plains is the embodiment of the Auburn Experience.

“Between the Athletics Department, the College of Education and all the other resources I have access to as an Auburn student, I have always felt very supported,” Tarwater said. “The best part of my Auburn experience is the people that I have built relationships with—whether it’s my teammates, my cohort or my professors.”

After finishing her graduate degree, Tarwater plans to continue her education and become fluent in Spanish. She has applied to various programs that will allow her to gain teaching experience and immerse herself fully in the language.

“First, I want to teach English in Peru to solidify my fluency in Spanish,” she said. “That experience will help me better empathize with future students who have come to America from a different country. It will make me a more effective teacher overall.”

Tarwater’s ultimate goal is to be the best teacher she can be, and she hopes to make a real difference in working with Spanish-speaking families. Long term, she plans to settle in an area where she can use Spanish in her classroom and community.

For Elijah McAllister, football is way more than just a game. The New Jersey native sees it as an opportunity—to travel around the country, to experience different walks of life, and to get the best education he can, all while playing the game he loves.

He arrived on the Plains from Vanderbilt last year with two degrees in hand—a bachelor’s degree in medicine, health, and society and a Master of Education degree with a concentration in urban studies. Though there were easier choices than pursuing a Ph.D. as a student-athlete, McAllister wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to get two degrees and have another opportunity here at Auburn to pursue my Ph.D., all because of the sport of football,” he said. “I know I could probably be taking random classes, but I’m not, because I enjoy learning. I have a passion to be a lifelong learner and I wanted to be able to elevate myself off the field just as much as I’m doing on the field.”

He was drawn to the Plains by the traditions, how much people love Auburn, and the feeling that Auburn is a true college town, unlike Nashville.

The academic opportunity was also a significant part of his decision. Ultimately, he chose Auburn because it allowed him to pursue multiple dreams: getting to the NFL and completing his Ph.D.

“I knew I could enhance myself on the field with Coach Freeze and the new staff coming in, and that I could fill a need for leadership,” he said. “And Auburn was one of the few schools that would allow me to pursue my Ph.D. and also my passions outside of the game of football.”

McAllister chose his Ph.D. program in administration of supervision and curriculum because it would put him on track to build a career in higher education as a professor or an athletics director. Although he loves the game of football and wants to play for as long as possible, he knows he can’t play forever so he pursues goals outside the game that align with things he cares about most.

“This specific program allows me to focus on my passion, which is talking about underrepresentation of Black educators and Black male educators. It’s not common for students to have African American teachers, administrators and other leaders during their education. Representation matters, specifically in the Black community.”

All of his passions, from education to football to helping people, are driven by his faith. Growing up, McAllister learned that the church is all about serving God, the community, and each other, and those values drive him in all his pursuits.

Also important to McAllister is bridging the gap between academics and athletics and using that knowledge to be successful on the football field. He credits the College of Education and his professors for his success in the classroom and for challenging him to become a better student.

“I found strong role models in the college,” he said. “Mentors who have taken time to learn who I am outside of sports and support me in my academic endeavors.”

Though it has been a demanding year, splitting his time between game-planning for top SEC football opponents and completing high-level Ph.D. coursework, the flexibility of his professors, the support of his cohort, and his dedication to routine have helped him flourish at Auburn.

But the work doesn’t stop there for McAllister—also the founder of The Elijah McAllister All Four One and One for All Foundation, which began in 2022 in his hometown in New Jersey with a youth football camp. Though he only arrived in Auburn in January 2023, he prioritized building connections for his foundation and was able to host a fall back-to-school drive in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club.

“Life is all about sacrifice,” McAllister said. “And I’m a big believer that nobody gets anywhere alone. The Auburn community and Auburn University granted me another year to play the game that I love in the best place in the country with the best fans in the country. So, serving the community I live in is just another way I can give back.”

The focus of his foundation is to build community and set an example for children and teens, especially young Black men, in both athletic and academic spaces. His foundation facilitates days of fun activities but also emphasizes the importance of education and access to resources and experiences they may not have otherwise.

“I want to be living proof to people that you can be successful in all areas of life, including in the field of education,” he said. “And that takes representation, people seeing people like me, a Black male, for them to know they can do it, too. The education piece is so important because that’s going to fuel the world to be a better place.”

McAllister describes his Auburn Experience with one word: family.

“The Auburn Family is real,” he said. “Auburn just feels like home. My hometown is 13 hours away so I never thought I would live in Auburn, Alabama. But in a short amount of time, I’ve grown to love Auburn and feel comfortable here and that means everything to me.”

Following the 2023 football season, he hopes to play professional football for as long as he can. He also plans to finish his Ph.D. and says he could end up back in Auburn one day.

“As a man of faith, I understand that my path will be paved by God who has led me to where I am today,” McAllister said. “He continues to have a hand in all the passions in my life— past, present, and future. All glory and praise go to him.”

The College of Education has been a natural home for student-athletes for generations. Today, they’re blazing new trails, fueled by purpose, drive and ambition. They’re creating unique student experiences, well beyond their roles as student-athletes and making it a priority to serve others above themselves.

What’s next for Sophia, Evan, Hannah and Elijah? They will continue to cement their legacies on the Plains and shape a future defined by excellence, no matter where their pursuits take them.