Student Athlete

The first annual George Mason University Honors College student-athlete networking breakfast was held Tuesday, October 13. The Honors College welcomed seven athlete alumni representing leadership roles in a range of industries, from banking to physical therapy, providing over 35 of its student-athletes the opportunity to network and learn from the wisdom and perspective of those who came before them.

Women's tennis team player Maya Bayat is a degree in finance with a minor in visual art. She also interns at two galleries and an art nonprofit, and creates her own art.

George Mason University student Tori Bates couldn’t have known that a decision she made as a teenager about how to spend the summer would end up defining her life’s purpose. What began as a summer activity sparked a passion for helping others. “I just absolutely fell in love with it,” she said. “It was just so much fun and so rewarding.”

Soccer opened doors for Fernando Carreon Garcia, taking him from elite youth academies in Mexico to George Mason University, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Systems and Industrial Engineering. 

For most student-athletes, the work happens behind the scenes. Early-morning lifts, long days of classes, hours on the court, and weekends spent traveling to competitions are rarely seen by anyone outside the team. For George Mason University women's tennis senior Cenan Liu, sharing that experience has become part of her story.

Computer science major and tennis player Shivaani Ganesh chose George Mason University for its strong academics, diverse Northern Virginia community, and competitive athletic opportunities, and has since leveraged her passion for technology to excel.

The Special Olympics Virginia Area 26 Volleyball Team can often be found in the stands at the Recreation Athletic Complex (RAC) on the Fairfax Campus, cheering on George Mason University’s men's volleyball team. Recently, a group of Patriots returned the favor, joining the Area 26 athletes on their home court and volunteering at the Warhawks Team's practice at Van Dyck Park in Fairfax. 

Growing up, Michael Marcus Jr.’s family had an important rule: All the children would take part in both a sport and some form of art. For Marcus, that meant basketball and music. A starting forward on George Mason University’s men’s basketball team, Marcus has spent years refining his game on the court while also teaching himself to play the piano in his free time.

NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and revenue sharing have become inescapable parts of the lexicon of today’s new college sports landscape, but George Mason University’s assistant vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics Marvin Lewis wants to make sure that everyone knows exactly what that entails.

A few days after completing his last season of college basketball at George Mason University, Gabe Norwood, BA Communication ’07, began a hoop odyssey that would take him to nearly 30 countries and make him a national basketball hero in a country thousands of miles from Virginia.