Niro is majoring in Forensic Psychology
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Being a scholar-athlete at Florida Tech takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to excel both in the classroom and on the field. Panther women’s lacrosse player Carly Niro, a junior who is majoring in Forensic Psychology, joins us for a new edition of Scholar-Athlete Spotlight.
A product of West Palm Beach, Florida, Carly has been an impact player from Day One in Melbourne as she’s contributed 34 goals and 29 assists over her first two seasons in the Crimson and Gray for a total of 63 points.
Niro has been named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s and Florida Tech Athletic Director’s Honor Roll after each of her first two seasons.
Carly joined us to talk about what she wants to get out of her major and how she makes it all work.
■ Tell us a little bit about your major here at Florida Tech, what made you choose it?
Well coming in, I always kind of knew I wasn’t gonna be a STEM girl and I met halfway in the middle by doing forensics. Everyone in that major always says the criminal law shows and law and order and all that is what gets them in, and that’s the same thing with me.
It just dragged me in since I was a kid, I’ve always loved watching that. So, it always interested me. Then when I got recruited here, and I saw that that was a major, I wanted to pursue that.
■ What do you want to do with that major once you’ve graduated?
Right now, I’m not sure but this past year, I started minoring in the CAST program, which is child advocacy.
So, I definitely want to work with children. I’m taking a lot of courses this year like clinical forensic psychology, that would definitely help me figure out exactly what I want to do. But I know I want to work with children or when adults plead insanity, I’d be the one that would see if they’re actually insane.
■ What was it about Florida Tech that made you want to be here?
It’s actually really funny, originally once I realized I wanted to play (in college), I wanted to get out of Florida. I did not want to be here, I wanted to experience the weather and the seasons and getting away from my family.
Once I got closer to senior year and life started to get real. I did not want to leave Florida, the weather was just not something I liked to experience, I love the sun. I’m far enough to where my parents cannot come see me every day and I can’t go home but I am close enough to where I could just drive home if need be.
■ What’s something from your classes that you didn’t know about your major before?
It’s so much harder than people make it out to be. It’s doable and it’s not impossible, but just because it’s not STEM does not mean that you will not be putting in just as much time. So that was definitely a big eye opener, just because I didn’t think I was right for STEM, I still was able to apply myself and push.
■ Is there a teammate or fellow athlete who you’ve become study buddies with?
So Forensic Psych is a pretty small major and we’re relatively all girls, so I have a lot of volleyball, swim, sometimes I’ll have a few softball (classmates) here and there. So yeah, we definitely connect, and I always have class with them. Usually since freshman year, I’ve had classes with the exact same people. It’s definitely a lot of help, especially when we’re on the same schedule, whether we’re in fall or spring, so it helps a lot.
■ What are some things you need to get the most out of study time? Do you have a playlist or need to be by yourself in a room?
I have this really nice setup in my room that a friend had set up for me, I have two monitors. So, I have to be in my room, at my desk, to study and definitely taking a study break, because sitting there for hours on a screen especially when you have three of them in front of you doesn’t help.
So going down and talking to my roommates for two to three minutes and then going back up or just sitting outside, anything to just get away. I have to be able to just get up and walk away, so usually I’ll do it in my room.
■ How has being a collegiate athlete prepared you for what you’re doing now and what do you take from the field that you apply to your studies?
Time management, I’m sure everyone’s gonna say that’s the biggest thing you learn in being a student-athlete, especially at this school because at every school academics comes first, but we really do not play around here with our academics and our major.
Also, no excuses, you can’t use excuses on the field, and it correlates into real life. No one’s taking those excuses and you have to leave everything you have.
■ What advice would you give to an athlete coming to Florida Tech that has an interest in Forensic Psychology?
As I mentioned earlier, just because you’re not STEM does not mean you are not doing as much or you’re not applying yourself 100%. Our major is, I’m not gonna say it’s just as hard, it’s very hard, t’s just different aspects. So don’t second guess yourself and think that you’re not as smart as everyone else around you because you definitely are.
CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS
The post Florida Tech Panther Scholar-Athlete Spotlight Recognizes Lacrosse Player Carly Niro appeared first on Space Coast Daily.