Ann Elizabeth Lynch
Ann Elizabeth Lynch, a senior member of women’s golf team at Union, is driven by a challenge. She will graduate one year early after juggling three years of 18-hour semesters, playing on the golf team and working multiple part-time jobs.
Lynch, a business management major and marketing minor, continues her family’s legacy of attending Union — her great grandmother, grandparents and parents all graduated from Union. She has been playing golf since the seventh grade, when her grandfather encouraged her to join her school’s team.
During her time as a student athlete, Lynch said one of the biggest lessons she has learned is time management.
“Playing golf, taking 18 hours and doing everything really teaches you how to manage your time and how to allocate time for practice, studying or whatever,” she said.
“A lot of people were like, ‘Why would you want to graduate early, that’s so stupid,’ and, ‘You can’t do that, there’s no way to be an athlete and graduate early,’” Lynch said. “But I like challenges, so that’s a driving force for me day to day. If someone tells me I can’t do something, that makes me want to do it that much more.”
After she graduates this May, Lynch plans to go to law school and is applying to University of Memphis and University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Lynch said her favorite thing about being on the golf team is the opportunity to travel with the team.
“We get to go a lot of really neat places,” she said. “Freshman year we went to Disney World and we go to Mobile, Alabama every year. It’s really fun getting to go different places.”
In her free time, Lynch enjoys running, painting and drawing. She has been involved in the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, worked in the wellness center and currently works part time at King & King PLC Attorneys at Law in Jackson, a job that has fostered her desire to become an attorney.
Her advice for Union students and other student athletes is to get to know professors.
“You have to establish on the front end that you really do care and that it is important,” she said.
Trey Scogin
Trey Scogin, senior exercise science major and Union soccer player, has been playing soccer since he was four years old.
During his growing up years in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Scogin played soccer, cross country, basketball and football, but focused on soccer during high school as he worked towards college.
Scogin, who is usually a forward for the team, hopes to go to physical therapy school, but regardless of his main career he wants to
continue his involvement with soccer.
“I really want to help kids [with soccer] through coaching, but it depends on what doors open for me after graduation,” Scogin said.
Scogin said his primary motivation, for both sports and academics, comes from his own drive and perseverance.
“The next day of soccer, I want to be a better player than I was the day before,” he said. “A lot of my motivation comes from that: trying to be the best that I can be.”
In his free time, Scogin is involved with Sigma Delta, a fraternity for students in physical therapy and exercise science. He enjoys staying in shape and frequents Union’s wellness center. On the weekends, he travels frequently to Knoxville to visit his girlfriend.
Scogin said his favorite thing about being on the soccer team is the accountability to stay in shape and the close friendships from the past four years.
“I still keep in contact with the people that aren’t here any more, like those that were seniors when I was a freshman,” he said. “I think [the friendships] are pretty important.”
One of the challenges of being on the team is the time commitment, Scogin said.
“Soccer does take up a lot of time and sometimes I want more time to study more for the harder classes in my major, but you don’t really get that,” he said. “That’s the most frustrating thing, but the positives outweigh that by a lot. It’s every athlete’s dream to come play collegiate sports.”
His advice to other Union students is simple: cherish your time at Union.
“Union offers a really good environment for friendships and activities, and sometimes you need to forget about the stressful things about school and enjoy your time here,” he said.
