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Jenny Smith receives her NCAA Championship medal, while holding the rake that became a symbolic part of the team's success
Jenny Smith receives her NCAA Championship medal, while holding the rake that became a symbolic part of the team's success

Catching Up With ... Jenny Smith (CMS Volleyball Class of 2018)

As a follow-up to our Championship Memories Saturday feature, where current CMS student-athletes look back on the championships they have won during their collegiate athletic careers, we will be occasionally be conducting a question and answer session with recent alumni from those title teams, as they too discuss their memories, as well as how their experiences as student-athletes have helped prepare them for life after college. 

This week's CMS Alumni q+a is with Jenny Smith, one of the members of the CMS Volleyball team in 2017 that won the first national championship in program history, as well as the first in CMS history in a women's sport (Saturday's feature story for Saturday's feature story). Any coach will tell you that winning championships requires everyone on the roster doing their parts and buying into their roles, and Smith is living evidence of that fact. She had an unusual road to earning her national championship ring, walking on to the team as a junior after participating in Head Coach Kurt Vlasich's physical education class and presenting him with a proposal on why she should be able to join the varsity program. After earning her roster spot, she became one of the emotional leaders of the team during the championship run, helping to keep everyone loose and playing at peak level as the pressure mounted, a role which sometimes even required gardening implements (she was in charge of the rake that served as a prop with the team's locker room anthem).  

Read below to catch up with Jenny Smith, her memories of her CMS volleyball experience, and what she is doing now (pursuing a PhD in astrophysics after graduating from Harvey Mudd in 2018).    

CMS: How much did being a part of national championship mean to you personally, especially after earning your way onto the team midway through your college career?

JS: Being part of a national championship team meant so much to me! I took a big risk joining the team in the middle of my college career and it was incredible to see it pay off in the biggest way possible.  

CMS: What is your favorite memory from the national championship that you think you will always keep with you? 

JS: Easily the mid-match locker room dance party! Right before we went in, the assistant coach pulled me aside and told me it was my responsibility to get everyone as amped as possible and I swear I have never taken a job so seriously! We were blasting our anthem (Rake It Up by Yo Gotti) and dancing around with the rake— it was really, really fun. There was this incredible confidence exuding from everyone. It was like we all knew we were going to win. There was no other option. 

CMS: Now that a little time has passed, how proud are you of what you and the team were able to accomplish?

JS: I'm so proud. I can't begin to describe the physical, mental, and emotional hardships everyone on the team overcame. We truly fought for one another and I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish together. It also meant a lot to me that we were the first all-women team to earn a national title. We set a new standard of excellence and established a legacy that will positively impact the CMS program for years to come. 

CMS: What are you doing now? 

JS: I am working on a PhD in astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Barbara and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. My research involves developing new superconducting technologies to support emerging fields including exoplanet detection and quantum computing. I'm hoping my studies will lead me into a career developing new technology to further our understanding of the universe. 

CMS: How was Harvey Mudd able to prepare you for life after college? 

JS: Harvey Mudd gave me a lot of experience with productive failure. The sheer difficulty and volume of the work load is honestly crushing but the amazing professors and collaborative student body pick you back up when you inevitably fall and create an environment where it is ok to fail. The school pushed me to my limits and way beyond, helping me get comfortable learning new things on the fly and teaching me not to be afraid to tackle tough problems. 

CMS: What life lessons did you learn from volleyball and being part of a successful team that you hope to keep with you during your professional career?

JS: There are so many important lessons I learned from playing volleyball and being part of a successful team I don't even know where to begin! The most important is probably the value of good teamwork. In volleyball, it's not really possible for one person to carry the team. Most plays, three different players are contacting the ball and with only six people on the court at once, no one can hide. We all understood this and each practice we pushed each other to be better, exploiting each other's weaknesses and forcing each other to grow. Good communication is also absolutely essential as you have to react to the play as it unfolds and you don't have time to look at the other players or speak more than a few words. You have know exactly who is doing what, when and react accordingly. A lot of that comes from the second main lesson and that's the importance of practice. Sports in general reinforces the idea that if you continue to try at something you will get better. This builds an amazing confidence and ability to work through the learning curve of any new skill.