{"id":134731,"date":"2018-03-09T09:08:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T14:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=134731"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:05:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:05:38","slug":"student-athlete-strong-monica-marcello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/03\/student-athlete-strong-monica-marcello\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-Athlete Strong: Monica Marcello"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn\u2019s student-athletes are often lauded for their on-field or on-court achievements, but there\u2019s an equally important \u2013 often unseen\u00a0\u2013 dimension to the student-athlete. UConn Today\u2019s Student-Athlete Strong series highlights the academic prowess of selected high-achieving student-athletes and provides an inside look at their lives beyond their sport.<\/em><\/p>\n

Monica Marcello \u201918 (CAHNR)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hometown and high school:\u00a0<\/strong>Middletown, Connecticut; Middletown High School<\/p>\n

Sport:<\/strong>\u00a0Women’s Diving<\/p>\n

Area of study:<\/strong>\u00a0Nutritional Sciences (applying to the master’s degree program in Nutritional Sciences for fall 2018)<\/p>\n

Anticipated graduation:<\/strong>\u00a0May 2018<\/p>\n

What attracted you to the nutritional sciences program at UConn?
\n<\/strong>There are two reasons the nutritional sciences program caught my attention; I grew up a competitive athlete for most of my life and learned the importance of nutrition at a young age, so I was inspired to help other athletes achieve their goals and maximize performance through nutrition. I was also born and raised on a farm, where each summer we had a bountiful garden, and chickens for farm-fresh eggs. I was able to see the agricultural aspect of nutrition as well \u2013 how food and nutrition is a long, intricate process. From growing it, to cooking it, to metabolizing it, then seeing its effects on people\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Is there a specific academic discipline of nutritional science that you wish to explore, such as nutritional education, clinical nutrition, health and human services, or \u2026?
\n<\/strong>Yes. I hope to explore them all throughout my career because I am fascinated by them all. I feel like the learning in my field is never-ending, and I love that. However, to initially start my career I hope to work in a clinical setting, working with infants and children who require assisted feeding, typically through tube feeding. I then hope to work in a community setting, working with low-income mothers and children who are suffering from the obesity\/hunger paradox.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a definite link between nutrition and academic \u2013 as well as athletic \u2013 performance . As a nutritional sciences major, what\u2019s one \u2018bad\u2019 habit you\u2019d suggest we break?
\n<\/strong>Putting all that sugar in our coffee! College students run off coffee, having one or two cups a day, and we load the sugar on (I can be guilty of it too). But one cup of a flavor swirl coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts already puts us over our recommended added sugar allowance per day.<\/p>\n

What are some of your academic achievements at UConn?
\n<\/strong>Being part of the All-AAC academic team was pretty cool. I also made the Dean\u2019s List twice, and last semester I had a 3.93 (I really wish I had got 4.0!).<\/p>\n

Sports have always been a huge part of your life. Do you think you\u2019ll remain involved in athletics in some way after graduation?
\n<\/strong>Yes. Actually, I am currently applying for my master\u2019s in the nutritional sciences department so that I can finish my last year of eligibility for diving at UConn next year. After diving, I definitely think I want to get into yoga more than I already am, and possibly horse vaulting. Adventure and staying healthy is very important to me.<\/p>\n

How has the Student-Athlete Success Program (formerly the Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes) helped you?
\n<\/strong>I\u2019ve been lucky to have that kind of academic support throughout my four years here. Lindsay Darcy is my academic advisor and I am very thankful for her; she has helped me organize my thoughts when I can\u2019t think straight, as well as directed me on the right path to achieve all I wanted to academically at UConn, while managing the crazy schedule of athletics.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to you to be a Husky?
\n<\/strong>I take so much pride in UConn’s name. Each time I wear my gear, or the UConn name in general, I walk around proud to have it on. Being a Husky gives me something to represent academically and athletically. It\u2019s really special to be a part of a family where people have done some amazing things under the UConn name, and I hope to be one of them as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This nutritional sciences major and member of the Women’s Diving team sees the benefits of good nutrition for academic and athletic performance alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":134838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1712,156,2225,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2103],"class_list":["post-134731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-profile","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","series-student-athlete-strong"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-19 06:22:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134731"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135125,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134731\/revisions\/135125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/134838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134731"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=134731"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=134731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}