lewis grew up in Merritt Island, transferred to Florida Tech from Eastern Florida State
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. We caught up with Panther men’s soccer player Gene Lewis, a junior who is majoring in Finance, for this edition of Scholar-Athlete Spotlight.
Having grown up in nearby Merritt Island, Florida, Gene transferred to Florida Tech from Eastern Florida State prior to the 2022 season and has since appeared in 27 games, contributing a goal and two assists to a Panther team that’s been amongst the nation’s best.
Following the 2022 season, Lewis was named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s and Florida Tech Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.
Gene joined us to talk about what he loved about his time at Florida Tech and how his education is preparing him for his career.
■ Tell us a little bit about your major, what made you choose it and what do you want to do with it?
With finance, I’ve always liked to deal with numbers and do things of that nature and [since I’m] pursuing real estate, I think it would really help me and so that’s why I chose it.
■ Having grown up in Brevard County, what was it about Florida Tech that made you want to stay?
For me, Florida Tech is local to me, I live about 20 minutes away. So, it’s nice to be close by and still be with my family, but also get that college experience. You know, it’s a great soccer program, and also the academics are really good too.
■ What’s something you’ve learned at Florida Tech about your major that you didn’t know before?
Specifically with finance, a lot of people think it’s just an office job or Wall Street or something like that, but a lot of my professors have opened my eyes up to show me that there’s other ways to do it and maybe traveling the world doing something related to finance is an option.
■ How has being a collegiate athlete prepared you for what you’re doing now and what lessons have you taken from the pitch that apply to your studies?
Yeah, a lot of it, juggling both athletics and academics, you have to learn time management, that’s a big part of it. Also, just the discipline to get up every day and be able to do things.
■ Given your unique perspective, what advice would you give to a local athlete that might be considering Florida Tech and what advice would you give to an athlete coming to Florida Tech that has an interest in Finance?
To the local athlete or local student in general, I’d tell them not to overlook it just because it’s local, you’ll still get that college experience.
And also some advice that I would give is to always have that balance of work/life. Always be serious in academics but also have time for your social life as well.
You got to be a part of a phenomenal run this year in the NCAA Tournament, going all the way to the Final Four. How do you stay on top of everything because you’re getting late into the semester and exams weren’t that far away.
■ What did you do during all those road trips to make sure that you were staying on top of everything while you were getting ready to to do this incredible thing?
A big part of that is just communication. I had a couple of projects here and there and just communicating with your teammates and knowing who needs to do what, when.
Also letting them know when you’re available, what you need to do, things of that nature and setting aside time to really study.
What people don’t realize as scholar-athletes is you guys had this incredible run to the Final Four, which stretches into December and you guys were on the road for quite a while there towards the end of the NCAA tournament towards exam season.
■ There’s a lot of important things that need to get done. How did you keep everything balanced while we’re making this run to the Final Four?
All of us are in that part of the semester where exams are coming up and big projects are coming to an end, so a key part of that is communication with your teammates, always making sure everybody knows their roles but also have the balance of when to chill out and relax or when to study in the hotel. We were given a lot of time to decide between one or the other, so that’s a key component of it.
One of the days [while we were on the road], we had an exam at the same time we were going out to lunch.
So, me and a teammate of mine actually talked to the coaching staff, and they were able to secure us a table at other side of the restaurant, free from distractions once we finished the exam and we were confident in what we had done, we went back to the team to finish up the meal and have a good time.
So yeah, those are just some of the things that happened while we’re on the road, especially when we’re in the national tournament. Luckily, we have a coaching staff that’s more than happy to accommodate us for what we need to get our jobs done.
■ What is your favorite memory of the 2023 season?
Getting to lift that regional trophy was really nice with all the team being there and all the photos, all the celebrations in the locker room, even at the hotel, on the bus, all of that, I’ll never forget it
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