FRESHMEN: RELAXING INTO THE STRESS OF FINALS WEEK

Editor's note: This is another in a series of stories which follow the progress of two freshmen -- Erin Holt and Brad Botsch -- from Bernie as they make their way through their first year at Southeast Missouri State University.

Erin Holt didn't play on a world-beating volleyball team for the first time in a long time and has changed her major.

Besides going to school, Bradley Botsch volunteers at the Cape Girardeau police station. But the recliners that have appeared in his dorm room suggest he understands the importance of relaxation.

Both freshmen approach finals week and the first Christmas vacation of their college careers ready for a break and confident in their grades.

Holt starred on three straight state championship volleyball teams while at Bernie High School, but her playing time at Southeast was limited during her first season.

The team won its fifth straight Ohio Valley Conference championship before losing in the semifinal round of the season-ending OVC tournament.

"The team was really disappointed," Holt said. "We won the conference and we expected to win."

She knows she needs to work on her defensive skills to increase her playing time. The Otahkians resume competition in the spring, though only for a short season.

Maintaining a 4.0 average in high school didn't require her to study hard, Holt said. The demands of college and athletics have turned out to be more challenging.

"I started off getting my homework done right away," she said. "By the end of the semester I was getting it done when I got it done."

At that, she says, "My grades are where they should be." She already has taken three of her finals.

Holt entered college as a pre-med major but now has decided to pursue sports medicine. "There was so much stress this semester. I don't think I could do it all the way through medical school," she said.

If accepted into the sports medicine program at Southeast, she can become a full-fledged athletic trainer within five years.

Holt spends most of her free time socializing with fellow athletes, particularly those in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. "I don't drink and I don't party a whole lot," she says. "I don't have a lot of free time."

Botsch and roommate Jason Crow have turned part of their dorm room into "our own little living room." Two recliners sit side-by-side before a wall decorated with paintings of hunting dogs. The TV is almost within arm's reach. Boxes of Twizzlers, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Pop Tarts and cheese crackers line the bottom level of their entertainment center.

Crow is also Botsch's best friend. "We have no conflicts," he says. "I couldn't ask for a better roommate."

They even agree to clean one day a week. "Thursday is cleaning day," Botsch says. "So it doesn't get so nasty you can't walk around in here."

Botsch's interest in criminal justice led him to join the Citizens Police Academy, an organization sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. The volunteers perform clerical tasks, easing the load on the regular force.

Tuesday he went door-to-door surveying Dunklin Street residents about parking problems.

He says he's getting ready to concentrate on studying. "I studied hard at the start (of the semester) and tapered off," he said. "I'm starting up again.

"If you don't study in college you aren't going to do well," he says.

He hopes to get three A's and two B's this semester. He has to maintain a 3.5 GPA to keep his President's Scholarship.

A standout basketball and baseball player while at Bernie High School, Botsch now plays on a basketball team in the Sikeston recreational league. He also works out with the Bernie High School team when he goes home on weekends.

Home in Bernie is where you'll find him during the Christmas break, probably shooting ducks almost every day.

Holt has been home only three times this semester. "I'm ready to go home now," she says. "I want to see some friends and old teachers. I need a break."

She also will go to Iowa to visit a teammate, Angie Aschoff.

Holt says she's tight with the other freshmen on the volleyball team: her roommate Kandie Candelarie, Rachelle Knapp and Krista Haukap. "We've got to be close," she said. "We've got to go through four years of this."