By Maya Kostov

Senior Evan Hackett has been playing soccer for what feels like forever, pushing himself to be the best, and it has finally paid off. Evan has recently committed to NCAA school Central College in Pella, Iowa, where he will play soccer and study engineering on a full-tuition academic scholarship! Evan utilized social media to his advantage, and connected with the soccer coach at the school because he saw Evan’s highlight video. After several phone calls, he made a trip to campus to meet the team.

Evan has been very meticulous in choosing his major. He is still unsure what profession to pursue, but believes engineering is a safe choice. Evan says, “It is a lot more difficult to switch into a difficult major than to switch out of one. I chose the most difficult major I was interested in and I made sure that credits are able to transfer easily if I would like to switch majors.”

Evan believes that it is very important to pick a school that above all is a great fit for you. Many sports teams might be a great fit, but it is even more important that the school, academically and socially, is a place where you would like to be. Evan shares, “One thing that helped me was to ask myself: ‘If I suffered an injury that put me out of soccer, would I still want to attend this school?’ If the answer was no, I crossed it off my list.”

He also shares that coaches love to see that a potential college athlete has good grades and test scores. It doesn’t matter how good of a player if you can’t keep up with your studies.

Iowa has a semi-pro team in Des Moines, which is about an hour from Central. If Evan is good enough, this team can serve as an outlet for him to continue to improve more in the future.

Evan has played TPA soccer in the winter and club soccer for the rest of the year, dedicating a lot of his time to practices and games. This has helped him be more accountable, and his strong support team has encouraged him to push past his limits. Best of luck to you Evan!