By Josie Emanuelli
The men’s basketball team is currently 11-9, and on a two game winning streak after Landmark Conference wins against Goucher and Elizabethtown College.
Chatham Studer (‘19) is a forward on the men’s basketball team double majoring in Economics and Spanish. He recently had a season high 12 points against Goucher on Saturday as he continues his sophomore campaign. In addition to playing basketball, Chatham is also a member of the Civic Scholar program and is involved with the Fund, the finance club on campus. In the offseason, he is a board member for the club volleyball team as well.
Chatham first heard about Drew when the coaches of the basketball team reached out to him. What drew him to Drew were many of the off-campus programs, such as the Wall Street program as well as the study abroad options that are available here. Over the summer, Chatham spent four weeks in Barcelona studying through one of Drew’s shortTREC programs. He also noted that Drew is only an hour and a half from home, which was really important to him, as well as how close to the city campus is.
When asked about what his biggest challenge as a student athlete, prioritizing time was brought up. The basketball season is five months long, beginning in September and lasting until the end of Feb., consisting of 25 games, making it a long, difficult season. The season continued with intensity over winter break, as they had a week off before flying to Florida to play in a tournament on Dec. 27th.
So far, the team has a winning record, but not by a wide margin. Chatham believes that the team is underachieving right now, but with more games left in the season, they still have a chance to make playoffs. The team is focusing on making the most out of their time on the court and making conference playoffs, as they are currently ranked fifth, narrowly missing the coveted fourth place that would secure their place in playoffs. They are focusing on looking forward, rather than at their past.
Before graduating, the sophomores on the team hope to win a conference championship, possibly appear in the NCAA postseason. The team has a strong group of underclassmen, and are working on continuing to build. There are five freshman on the team and six sophomores meaning that they will be able to retain almost all of their starters as well as their bench players. Most of the starters are underclassmen, so next season everybody will be back and able to pick up wherever they will leave this season.
Off the court, Chatham stays busy with his civic internship working in the finance office of the borough of Madison. This internship is a part of the Civic Scholar program. Due to his participation and work through the program, he was also nominated for 2017 Allstate NABC-WBCA Good Works Team. This is a national award that is only awarded to 20 athletes, five from Division III, so being nominated is a great honor. Chatham will hear about whether or not he is a recipient of the award in the month.
When asked if there was anything that he wanted to say to the Drew community, Chatham said, “Keep being great, Drewids. Keep up the great attitude. Whenever I am on the paths, everyone is always smiling and saying hi to everyone. Keep doing that and the world will be a better place.”
