Friday, September 30, 2022

Part of a regular series.

Throughout the year, GNACsports.com uses this space to profile conference student-athletes who are members of their respective institutions’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). In addition to providing feedback on the student-athlete experience, conference and institutional SAAC members also offer input on the rules, regulations, and policies that affect student-athletes’ lives on NCAA member institution campuses.

Name: Nicole Mah
Sport: Skiing
Institution: University of Alaska Anchorage
Year: Senior
Major: Computer Science
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia

Why did you choose to attend UAA?: I chose to go up to Alaska because of my previous teammates. It was one of six schools in the West with skiing programs and I appreciated that UAA was a smaller school and I heard a lot of great things about the program from past teammates.

What is your favorite class you have taken in college and why?: I am currently taking what I think will be my favorite class, web application development. I'm currently really enjoying this class and I am thinking about becoming a UI/UX designer, so it is very applicable to that career and will hopefully help me get started.

Who is your favorite professor to date and why?: I would rate Dr. Frank Moore as my favorite professor. He was also my advisor until he retired last year. I've had multiple classes with him and got to know him and he is very funny and I like the way he taught his classes.

How many years were you involved in SAAC?: Two years.

What made you want to be involved in SAAC?: Our previous SAAC representative graduated and I thought it was a good way to represent our team on a larger scale and I thought it would be a good way to improve my communication skills.

What is your most memorable SAAC activity to date?: This year at our annual beginning of the year athletics get-together, a few of our SAAC members organized a bunch of games to help us get to know other athletes from other teams and it was a great bonding experience.

What is the most important thing you've learned from balancing the demands of athletics and academics?: I've come to learn that time management and self-discipline is the key to success when juggling athletics and academics. It is really important to be organized and hold yourself accountable.

What is the biggest obstacle you have overcome during your collegiate career?: Like everyone else, COVID was a huge obstacle throughout most of my collegiate career. It made it more difficult to do pretty much everything and I think that my learning was impacted because of classes being forced to go online.

Who is your current mentor?: Vanessa Raymond. I worked with her startup company this summer and she has been amazing in helping me learn a bunch of new skills and has a lot of good advice when it comes to working in the tech industry.

What are your future goals after graduation?: To be able to travel and have a career that I love, so it makes it feel like I'm not working.

What is the best advice you would give to an incoming freshman?: Try new things and get involved in campus life.

What is your memorable sports-related moment?: I was able to watch a lot of my close friends at the Olympics in Beijing this past winter.

Favorite Sports Team: Second to the Seawolves ski team, my favorite team is the Seattle Seahawks! I grew up watching my brother play football and loved watching the Seahawks because it was closest to home.

Favorite Athlete: Kawhi Leonard

What is one thing that people don't know about you?: I am missing three teeth from a ski accident when I was 10.