HOMEWARD BOUND: FRESHMEN FIND COLLEGE IS WORK

Editor's note: This is the last in a series of articles following Bernie residents Erin Holt and Bradley Botsch through their freshman year at Southeast Missouri State University.

At the conclusion of her freshman year of college, Erin Holt is confounded by the amount of time college requires -- especially of a student-athlete. Finishing up his freshman year, Bradley Botsch has so much spare time he is thinking about taking a part-time job next semester.

The two Southeast Missouri State University freshmen from Bernie have had very different experiences as college freshmen.

As a member of the volleyball team and a student used to making A's, Holt struggled to practice, played games, studied and attended classes on six hours of sleep. The amount of sleep she gets hasn't changed even during the off-season, but her management of time has.

She now takes homework along when she goes to visit a friend. "I'm getting better at getting less sleep and being able to function," she says.

The two-time all-state volleyball player wasn't wearing green polish on her fingernails and toenails or earclips when she first came to the Southeast campus last August either. She wears them now.

She seldom went home to Bernie during the school year, had a boyfriend named Zack from Troy for a short while and was dogged by injuries during her freshman season on the volleyball team. First a knee injury and later arthroscopic surgery for a torn rotator cuff relegated her to cheerleading for the team more than playing.

She didn't play during the team's short spring season either but plans to work out all summer and be fit when drills begin again in August.

Outwardly, Botsch seems less affected by his year at Southeast. He has driven home to Bernie every weekend to hunt, fish and see his mother, sister and longtime girlfriend.

A multisport athlete in high school, Botsch plays on the Baptist Student Union intramural football, basketball and softball teams at Southeast. Those take up much less time.

"I've got more time on my hands than I did in high school. I've got room for a job," he says. "If I want to go fishing I can do it."

Botsch also has spent some time becoming the top video hockey player on his Towers West dormitory floor.

Holt made straight A's her first semester, but perfection is turning out to be elusive in her second. She expects to make B's in physics and Old Testament literature.

The latter turned out to be more literature and less Bible study, she says. One of her semester-ending assignments is to write a psalm.

Botsch has confidence in his four A's and a B heading into finals.

Procrastination has been a problem at school this year, Holt says, and unofficial pre-law major Botsch admits to being guilty of that, too.

Holt, who is majoring in sports medicine, will take classes this summer in anatomy and physiology. Botsch is going to make some money by driving a tractor on a farm in Bernie. Holt laughs at that, revealing Botsch's reputation around Bernie for fast driving.

Her roommate, Kandie Candelarie, complains that the Southeast campus is gossipy. "I ignore it," Holt said. "In a small town everybody knows."

"This is a small-town type of campus," Botsch says.

Holt is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. "The FCA provided my first major friends outside athletics," she said.

She has joined an informal group called "The Bleacher Creatures." Its members root for the women's softball team. The disparity between the amount of student support men's and women's teams receive irks her.

From a 1997 graduating class of 42 at Bernie High School, Holt and Botsch last fall became two of 1,200 freshmen at Southeast. To Bernie High School seniors who will be entering Southeast in the fall, Botsch says: "You're not going to find many blow-off courses. You're going to find professors who make you work."

Advises Holt: "Be prepared to work. I don't think they expect it to be this much work."