The Student-Athlete College Search: Finding Happiness

According to the Gregorian calendar, we are a couple of months into the new year, but from the perspective of the academic calendar, we are more than halfway through the year. This means many graduating seniors are making decisions on their next phase of education: choosing their college home. Go on any social media site, and you will see students and families sharing their decisions and celebrating their acceptance letters from the school of their dreams.

Choosing a college is a difficult decision.

The usual factors are cost, location, size and majors offered. The difficulty of the decision is multiplied for student-athletes.

Student-athletes must think about the athletic program and the opportunities it can provide them for the future. For an NCAA Division III student-athlete, the college decision becomes more complex due to the absence of an athletic scholarship enticement. For the student-athlete, the goal is to find a place where they are happy.

According to research by psychologist Iris Mauss (Hidden Brain Podcast, 2023),

The attainment of happiness becomes elusive when the pursuit is motivated by individualistic desires at the expense of all the other things surrounding the individual.

Mauss highlights what makes people happiest is their connection and relationship with others and their surroundings.

Let us apply her findings to help assist in attaining happiness at the end of the college decision-making process for the NCAA Division III student-athlete. To do that, student-athletes should consider seeking ohana in their pursuit of collegiate athletic opportunities. Ohana, which means family, is a term made popular by the 2002 Disney movie Lilo & Stitch.