By: Kate Zachary
For Jordan Papas, playing college soccer has always been one of her biggest dreams. Papas was first discovered at the team camp held at the University of Alabama at Birmingham last summer. At the camp, Coach Benji Walton of Birmingham Southern College was assigned to watch her play. At first he underestimated her because of her height, 5’1”, but after Walton saw her play he told Papas’ coach that he had to have her on his team at Birmingham Southern College. Papas went to look at the campus at Birmingham Southern College and fell in love with it. She loves the scenery of the campus, and also that it is an arts-oriented school because she has a passion for art and music. “If I went to a bigger school, I would not be able to take art or any other fun classes that I am interested in because soccer would be so time consuming,” Papas said. She signed with Birmingham Southern College, which is the top Division III school in Alabama, as the goal keeper of their team.
“To be offered a scholarship by a Division III school is a great honor because Division III schools do not usually give athletic scholarships. I was given the opportunity of a lifetime and it was an offer I absolutely could not refuse,” Papas said. Originally, Papas wanted to attend a division one school, such as the University of Tennessee or the University of Alabama at Birmingham to play soccer, but her height was a problem with all of the division one schools. Papas is now excited to attend Birmingham Southern because it is a smaller college. “It would be better for me at a smaller school because I would be able to know a lot more people, and it would be easier to be known by my professors instead of just being a number in a classroom,” Papas said.
Papas wants to major in sports medicine because she has been playing sports all of her life, and she wants to stay involved with sports for the rest of her life. Even though her high school years are ending, her new life of college soccer is just beginning. “I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason and I think it was meant to be that I am going to Birmingham Southern College instead of a Division I school,” Papas said. She also wants to keep art and music in her life throughout college, making Birmingham Southern College the school of her dreams.
