Alumni
STUDENT | EXTRA CREDIT
Balancing Act
Maria Papasotiriou '12 juggles a full course load and hours of workouts with dreams of making it to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
By Mike Conklin
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| At age 16, Maria Papasotiriou ’12 placed 31st in the European Championship after skating what some called her best routine ever. Upcoming competitions will determine whether she qualifies to skate for Greece in the 2010 Olympics. (Courtesy of Maria Papasotiriou '12) |
In Introduction to Visual Arts taught by Rebecca Goldberg, the final project is a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago, where students compare two different works from separate areas of art. The goal is to show commonality and, as Goldberg points out, that art does not exist in a vacuum.
The lesson cannot be lost on Maria Papasotiriou '12. With one foot on the campus and the other planted firmly in the glare of elite international sports, she is experiencing a unique balancing act that is anything but a vacuum-like existence for a first-year student.
Papasotiriou is a world class figure skater with sights realistically set on the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver. It's a goal that has put her in the skating spotlight in Japan, Poland, England, Croatia, and Sweden, and now, in this first year of college, she faces the biggest test of her life on ice.
With dual U.S.-Greek citizenship, Papasotiriou will compete for Greece in upcoming qualifying competitions because her father, Saki, emigrated to this country at age five. Should all go well in preliminary competition, she expects to be either the flag or torch bearer for Greece in the opening or closing ceremonies in Vancouver.
In order to represent Greece, Papasotiriou must finish in the top 24 out of 55 skaters in the World Championships in March 2009 in Los Angeles. If she fails to qualify then, she has a second chance in September, when she must place in the top six in a smaller competition in Vienna, Austria.
After skating what followers called her "best routine ever" as a 16-year-old in the European Championships, Papasotiriou placed 31st in the competition, demonstrating that she belongs in elite competition. Her finishes in the most recent European Championship and last two World Championships have kept her solidly in contention.
The Winter Olympics have been her dream almost from the time she first laced up skates 10 years ago in the Chicago suburbs.
A graduate of nearby Libertyville High School, enrolling in Lake Forest College allowed her to continue working with her coach, Alexander Ouriashev, and choreographer, Oleg Epstein, in Vernon Hills Glacier Ice Arena only a few miles from campus.
"We lived down the street from the Glenview Ice Arena at one time, and my mom signed me up for lessons," says Papasotiriou, explaining her start in the sport. "Alex was teaching my class and he took my leg and arm and swung me around as we spun. It was so much fun I begged my mom for private lessons for my birthday. She gave me five as a gift, but that turned into thousands of lessons over the years."
Most of Papasotiriou's peers in her 9 a.m. chemistry class are probably unaware she comes straight to class from arduous skating workouts. She spends 17 hours a week on the ice, much of it in the early morning hours before classmates have even trooped to the cafeteria for breakfast. There are eight hours more per week spent in off-ice training.
"The investment in time and effort to get to this level in your skating career is almost more than someone unfamiliar with the process can understand," says Ouriashev, her coach. "It takes years and years of dedication. There has to be much sacrifice along the way. Then, there has to be a very careful schedule of events to bring the skater along at just the right time in her life. For many, there is only one opportunity to reach the Olympics."
Looking every bit the first-year student, Papasotiriou nevertheless scoots around campus without the slightest hint of her rigorous second life. She's friendly, eager to make friends, wants to get more involved when her schedule eases, and is considering a sorority in the second semester.
Her favorite part of school so far has been her chemistry class's field trip to the John G. Shedd Aquarium during the first week of school. "Being a commuter from home and spending so much time at the rink, I pretty much have only met my professors and people in my classes," she says.
Papasotiriou carefully worked out a first-semester class schedule, interrupted briefly for a trip to Austria in mid-October for the Karl Schafer Memorial skating competition. Her full load of courses include Introduction to Visual Arts, Religious and Ethical Perspectives on the Environment, World Civilization to 1650, and a chemistry course with full Wednesday afternoons in the laboratory in addition to the regular 9 a.m. classes.
There are other demands, too. Shortly before classes started for the 2008-09 academic year, Papasotiriou hosted a pancreatic cancer fundraiser, "Skate for a Cure," at Glacier Ice Arena. This was the second year for the figure-skating show, which featured 25 skaters in 22 acts. She organized the effort to honor the memory of a close relative.
Her pace figures to quicken as 2010 and the Winter Games near. "I've skated to the caliber of the women ranked top in the world," says the 18-year-old, "and because of that I realized I can make it to the same places they have, like the Olympics."
Freelance writer Mike Conklin, a 35-year journalist with the Chicago Tribune, currently teaches full-time at DePaul University.