Outside sports, Schroeder helps deaf community
Annalise Schroeder of North Central University in Minneapolis, was selected as one of two winners of the 2016 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award.
Through this award, the UMAC recognizes the role athletics plays in developing leaders by rewarding athletes’ excellence in the classroom as well as service to the community.
Schroeder (2012 New London High School grad, daughter of Dan and Ruthanne Schroeder) and Louis Corcoran of Northland College emerged from a group of finalists that demonstrates a healthy balance by achieving excellence in academics, leadership, and service while participating in intercollegiate athletics.
“These individuals have achieved exceptional accomplishments in athletics, academics, and in campus and community pursuits,” UMAC Commissioner Corey Borchardt said. “Further, Annalise and Louis have both demonstrated a high level of leadership capability and dedication to serving others through numerous avenues.”
As a four-year member and two-year captain of the Rams’ cross country team, Schroeder has demonstrated leadership through success on the course and a positive attitude.
“Whether or not you are a captain on the team, everyone contributes as a leader,” Schroeder said. “Even though (cross country) is more individual, you learn how to work together, work with one another and serve as a leader. It’s really all about attitude and respect and encouraging one another every day in practice and in races.”
On the competition course, Schroeder earned All-UMAC cross country honors three times and finished in the top 10 at the UMAC Championships in three of her four seasons. As a rookie in 2012, Schroeder placed fifth individually and led the Rams to a third-place team finish. She capped off her career with a seventh-place finish this fall as the top Rams finisher at the UMAC meet.
In the classroom, Schroeder maintained a 3.811 grade point average (GPA) as an American Sign Language Interpreting and deaf culture studies major. Schroeder will finish her program in seven semesters after taking the 2014 spring session off to volunteer at the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf in Kingston, Jamaica, assisting teachers and tutoring students.
She has also served as president of Deaf Culture Ministries and director of the Deaf Culture Fellowship at North Central for the last two years implementing programs to promote interactions for deaf students on campus.
With limited opportunities to engage with her area of study on campus, Schroeder has taken initiative to serve the deaf community and organizations off campus. Schroeder has served as an interpreter with Family Retreat for Deaf Ministries of Minnesota for the last two years as well as volunteered over 100 hours with Communication Service for the Deaf training, developing and presenting workshops for domestic violence issues for the deaf. She has also volunteered with numerous other groups to utilize her skills to serve the deaf.
For Schroeder, finding a balance between athletics, academics and her other commitments has come from discipline and a passion for what she does.
“(Finding balance) has taken a lot of discipline and intentionality and hard work,” Schroeder said. “I’ve realized that if I care about something enough, I will make it work with my schedule, but it does require a lot of discipline and learning how to say ‘no’ and learning how to prioritize.”
Following graduation, Schroeder plans to remain in the Twin Cities to seek work as an ASL interpreter. She intends to pursue and receive her master’s degree within five years and would like to pioneer research in the ASL interpreting field.
Article courtesy of Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). Photography courtesy of North Central University Sports Information.