For Buffs' Smith, Excelling On And Off The Court The True College Experience
May 04, 2017 | Women's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — If you follow Colorado basketball, you already know a few things about Buffs senior Haley Smith.
You know she was a four-year starter and played a significant role in the just-completed turnaround season for JR Payne's Buffs that included an early season top-20 ranking and a postseason WNIT appearance. You know she finished her career as one of just 29 1,000-point scorers ever for Colorado, and one of just 15 players in CU history with at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
You also know she never took a night off. She spent four years with the Buffs playing her heart out every practice, every game. Anyone who watched Smith play knew that her effort was never, ever in question.
Simply, she's been the kind of athlete who makes Buffs fans proud to be Buffs fans.
But what you might not know — and what you need to know — is that Haley Smith is also the kind of student who makes Buffs fans proud to be Buffs fans. She is the textbook definition of a student-athlete, a great example of why athletics are still an important part of the university culture.
For instance:
Smith will graduate this semester with a degree in mechanical engineering and a grade-point average north of 3.67. She is a three-time member of the dean's list, a three-time All-Academic Pac-12 team member and a seven-time member of the Athletic Director's honor roll.
She was one of three recipients this year of the Byron R. White Leadership and Initiative Award. Named in honor of the former CU star and U.S. Supreme Court justice, the award is presented to student-athletes who have "exhibited outstanding initiative and demonstrated a strong commitment to service to the CU and Boulder communities."
She devoted dozens if not hundreds of hours of her time at CU to community service projects, ranging from work with community food pantries to visits to Children's Hospital via the "Buffs Hugs" program.
In her "spare" time she served as an engineering fellow, holding office hours and conducting review sessions for fellow engineering students in need of additional academic support. She also completed two research projects at CU, one as a research assistant and one via independent study.
Of course, those are just the highlights. We remind you that she did all those things while still managing to play basketball at an elite Division I level in her time at Colorado, dedicating all the time necessary (and a little more) to reach that height.
"Haley is the perfect representation of a student-athlete at the University of Colorado," said Chris Howlett, CU's academic coordinator for women's basketball. "She excels in the classroom, she excels on the court, she does everything the right way, she doesn't cut corners. I've never had to ask Haley to do anything; she's always out in front of what I'm asking everybody else to do. She just epitomizes and really defines what an exceptional student-athlete looks like."
For Smith, it's been four years she will never forget — but also four year she now admits seem as if they went by in a flash.
"I always say an individual day is really slow but a year goes by so fast," Smith said recently. "When I think back on it, we just finished a long season — but then when I first started as a freshman doesn't seem like that long ago. Now we've got a week to go before graduation and it's kind of surreal. Part of it is you can't believe it went by so fast."
When Smith looks back on the last four years, she doesn't reflect on a "career," a common reference point for athletes. Instead, she reflects on the college experience, just another indication that she made the most out of every minute in Boulder, on and off the court.
"I can't imagine having gone through college without all these experiences," Smith said. "The people I've been surrounded by, the people I've been able to meet, the people who have been such an influence and impact on my life — it's been amazing. I've had so many opportunities to do so many things, to have so many different experiences, it's hard to think about not taking advantage of all those things."
Along with learning in class and on the basketball court, Smith also credits her college experience with helping her refine a skill that will serve her well for the rest of her life: time management. It is something that the discipline and dedication required to participate in Division I athletics no doubt helped shape.
"I think I had some time management skills when I came here — but they had to get three times, four times better when started college," she said. "My experience no doubt taught me about time management and helped me improve it. As an engineering student, we definitely have a high workload. I've talked to other people in my major and in my college who are always amazed when I tell them I was a basketball player. They always ask, 'How could you manage your time?'
"The truth is there's plenty of time to do all the things you need to do, but you have to be willing to be organized."
That's something that became imperative when juggling classes, basketball and extracurriculars.
"I learned that when you have an hour between classes or get home a little early, you spend that time working," Smith said. "I didn't have a lot of time to just hang out for a while and do nothing — but I never really wanted to do that, anyway. I learned that if I had some time, I could utilize it. I never had to stay up all night or stay up until 2 in the morning a bunch of days in a row to get something done. I was able to prioritize and make lists and use my planner and get everything done in a reasonable way and still have some sort of a social life."
One of Smith's favorite endeavors in college was her capstone project in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Each student participates in an industry-based project with a client, project description and project team.
"Some other colleges have problem — it's on paper, you solve it, and that's the end," Smith said. "We are given a 'real-world' project. You're treated as if you are an engineer and you're being paid and that's the way they want you to treat the project — as your job. You learn about professionalism, how to act in the workplace and how to work with a client — all the things you will work with in the future."
Smith's project couldn't have been more tailor-made for her background. She and her project teammates worked with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks to design a height-adjustable chair for the bench area.
"The chairs they use in the NBA are regular sized — they would fit you and me fine, but they aren't as good for a league that has such a huge height range and weight range," Smith said.
Smith and her teammates then designed a chair that will not only adjust in height, but also has a heated seat and back, something that will help keep players' muscles warm when they come out of a game for a few minutes on the bench.
"When the projects were announced, I said 'Perfect — this was made for me,'" Smith said. "It allowed me to provide some unique insight to our team because of my position as a basketball player."
It was also another step on the road Smith wants to continue to travel after college. She will enroll next fall at Stanford in pursuit of a master's degree in mechanical engineering. After that, she hopes to begin a career in a research and development setting in the field of biomechanics.
"I'm very interested in the prosthetic engineering industry," Smith said. "Really, all medical devices, but specifically prosthetics, exoskeletons, orthotics, joint implants. I think it is a meld of my interest in athletics and human performance with mechanical engineering. As an athlete I've always been in tune with my body and how it works and how to make it work better, and how we can mimic what it does — and that's really what I want to focus my career on. Ways to improve human performance, ways to mimic it and ways to improve the quality of life of people who are handicapped or disabled."
But no matter how her time in Boulder starts becoming more and more of her past, there are moments she knows she will never forget.
"The distinct moment that will stick with me is scoring my 1,000th point on Senior Day in our last regular season game at home," Smith said. "I had a bunch of family in town, it was a goal I really wanted to reach and we have some of the best fans in the country. They were so behind me and counting down those last final points. They have been so supportive throughout my career and when it finally did happen, it was great.
"That's something I'll always carry with me as kind of a culmination of my time here and a memory of what Buffs fans always meant to me and our team."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
