Do you want to play a college sport? Do you have the right qualifications to do so? These are questions that you may want to ask yourself when selecting your classes next year. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) may not accept all of the same credits offered at Freedom. 

The NCAA is an organization that regulates student athletes. They determine what rules and regulations are needed in sports to make sure the games are played fairly nationwide. They also determine what qualifies students to become future athletes in highschool and college. Whether that be a certain Grade Point Average (GPA), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score or even classes one takes, they can decide when someone meets their standards to play a sport in college. 

Sophomore Dylan Scheel, as of right now, wants to go to a division two college to play soccer. In order to do so, he needs four English credits along with other standard credits. Scheel’s freshman and sophomore year, he took Print Media Workshop as his English credit, however that class is not considered a credit through the NCAA. Due to that, Scheel had to drop the class this year and find another way to get the English credits he needs.

 Within Print Media Workshop, students learn many aspects of communicating, teamwork and leadership. All of these amazing qualities are heavily used in sports. So why do they find this class unfit? The answer is not clear, however people feel it is not right. There are many aspects of English used in the class, plus more that may not be given in a normal English class. 

There are other classes currently offered at Freedom that are not accepted as credits through the NCAA, such as Communications and Pre-Algebra. In Communications, students learn useful presentation skills and verbal skills. Knowing how to communicate is a very important part of life, not just in sports. In Pre-Algebra, students learn many useful skills as well, such as problem-solving and critical thinking. These can be helpful in sports when making decisions under pressure and finding ways to win a game. 

About every six years, there is a student at Freedom that wants to go to a division one or division two school but is stopped by not having the right credits to qualify. 

However, that does not mean students cannot take the class. They would need to make sure they have all of the accepted credits first. 

To ensure that this does not happen to anyone after it is too late or even before, it is important that students make sure they understand the classes they are taking now and how the class will help with what they want to do later in life. It is important that throughout high school, students get the credits needed to graduate but also if they want to go to college for athletics, that they have the right requirements for that as well.