JACKSON, MS- Workouts and more hours of study than usual are the name of the game for Millsaps College seniors who are members of the women's basketball team.
Having helped the team win the Southern Athletic Association's regular season championship, Millsaps seniors Velvet Johnson and Brittnei Earl will prepare alongside their teammates for the conference tournament that Millsaps will host Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
As they get ready for competition on the court, Johnson and Earl are also getting ready for comprehensive exams, or "comps" – a Millsaps tradition and requirement for graduation that involves both written and oral examinations. A student must review and be prepared to answer questions across all courses in his or her major, including courses he or she may not have even taken as an undergraduate.
Johnson, Millsaps' all-time leading scorer who is from the small Mississippi town of McCool, said she uses any free time to study for her oral examination that will be at the end of March. Her written comprehensive exams will be completed the day before the tournament begins, but she will still have to write a paper for comps that is due the next week.
"I will study throughout the weekend," said Johnson, who is majoring in neuroscience and plans to attend nursing school after graduation and eventually become a nurse anesthetist.
Earl tackled her written comprehensive exams in biology this past Tuesday. Earle, who is also majoring in art, must still create seven new works of art as part of her art comps, write a thesis paper and prepare a gallery talk in April.
"This week, I won't study for my oral biology comps as intensely as I did for the written, but I'll probably still study for them because orals will be here sooner than you know it," said Earl, who is from Houston, Texas. "I'm hoping that for art, I'll have put the finishing touches on most of the work by Friday night, so that I can focus on basketball for the rest of the weekend."
Another senior on the team,
Samantha Perez from Miami, faces her written comps on Monday after the tournament.
She has prepared by reviewing a guide meant to prepare one to enter graduate school in psychology.
"I also have an app on my phone with flashcards to review terms," said Perez, who plans to become a physical therapist and has already been accepted into four programs, but has not selected the one she plans to attend. "I have also done a practice test in my senior seminar class with Dr. Kathryn Hahn, assistant professor of psychology. She has prepared me well.
"I have my paper portion coming up next week and then my oral portion of comps after spring break. Then I will be officially done."
Millsaps women's basketball coach Chuck Winkelman said it's an honor to coach at Millsaps where players are student-athletes. "Our women want to win on the court, but they also want to win in life, and their academic and personal success at Millsaps is the most important part of the educational experience," he said.
