Fernando Alvarez knows how important it is to support everyone on your team.

As a member of the men’s soccer team, he has the opportunity to play with students from different countries and thinks this experience will prepare him for life after college.

“If I’m in the workforce and have to do something with a group, I’ll be social. I understand how to work with others,” he says.

“In high school, they always tell you how scary college is, how hard it is,” Fernando added. “But when I came here, I found out everyone wants to help you. The teachers are really supportive. They say you can email them for any reason. They’re always ready to answer your questions.”

As a student-athlete, Fernando gets a lot of assistance from the Athletics staff, too.

“We have Geoff Davis, our trainer. He’s the only trainer for all the sports here, but he does a good job of taking care of all of us. You just tell him ‘I’m sore here’ and he knows what to do to help you recover. They make sure you’re 100 percent if you got injured before they let you go back in the game, so you don’t keep getting injured,” Fernando says.