ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For Laura Jimenez, life is about shattering expectations. About to begin her fourth season on the University of Michigan water polo team, Jimenez is also on track to be the first in her family to graduate college.
This, however, is not the first time she has had to overcome long odds. Jimenez grew up in Commerce, California, just southeast of downtown Los Angeles where she attended Montebello High School. Of the 700 students in her graduating class, only about 100 went to a four-year university.
But that didn’t stop her.
The senior attacker made her best effort to stand out in high school. She challenged herself by taking as many AP courses as she could, ultimately finishing in the top 20 of her large graduating class. However, the motivations for doing well in school were not always intrinsic; Jimenez gives a lot of credit to her parents for her academic successes.
“Neither of my parents completed college, but they always put an emphasis on my education and my academics,” she said. “They never let me slack off. For my parents, school always came first. They got me into the mindset that if sports didn’t work out, at least I would have my academics.”
But how did they incentivize her to do well? The answer is easy — water polo.
“Back home, if I didn’t finish my homework, my mom wouldn’t let me go to practice,” Jimenez said. “Because I really wanted to go to practice and knew I only had an hour after school, I would even do my homework during lunch in order to be able to go.”
Jimenez has wanted to play water polo in college since the eighth grade, when she coincidentally played a tournament at Canham Natatorium. While there, she got the opportunity to tour campus and meet with coaches, sparking her interest in Michigan even though a decision wouldn’t come for another four years.
She was interested in taking her talents to the collegiate level, but it wasn’t until she began to develop a bond with her high school’s college counselor that it became a possibility. The counselor’s daughter had recently graduated after playing collegiate water polo in California and was familiar with the process. It was through these conversations that Jimenez re-familiarized herself with Michigan.
“When I started to look at the schools that I wanted to go to, my first step wasn’t necessarily reaching out to coaches. I would start by looking at the school’s academic programs and trying to get in because of that, not sports.”
Now a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, which requires a 3.7 GPA, Jimenez has met her goals of finding success in the classroom. But it wasn’t always easy.
“I did struggle a lot,” she said about her start at U-M. “It is not that I wasn’t motivated or that I didn’t want to do well in school, but it was just a whole different kind of atmosphere at Michigan. Everyone here was a good student, and everyone here came from a good school.”
“I think that it was a combination of being new to Michigan in both athletics and academics. I was not completely prepared for the academics, which is why I struggled. It was a complete change of schedule from what I was used to. Also, the level of competition in class was significantly more than it was in high school.”
In addition to the atmosphere, Jimenez also had to adjust to many other factors in her transition to college. As the oldest of three, she is only one away from home, making it hard for her and her family to part ways. She didn’t just leave home. She went across the country, not to mention to a very different climate.
After struggling to find a balance between the classroom and the pool her freshman year, Jimenez was able to figure it out and quickly began to excel like she always had.
“Between the two, something that I learned is there needs to be a separation,” she stated. “When I am in the water, my focus is solely on playing and improving in water polo. But when I am outside of the pool, I do try to focus as much as I can on school.”
Now a senior, Jimenez is soon to graduate with a degree in international studies and minor in science, technology and society (STS). Her focus is on Latin America and its emphasis on international security, norms and cooperation. Those issues, she says, are very prevalent in her community back home.
Jimenez is very passionate about human rights and civil rights. She participates in a Spanish-language internship program in which she helps teach English to ESL adults in Ypsilanti. She also had an experience in the past as a part of the Latin Business Association, a group that helped smaller businesses within the Latino community to network and help build their business processes.
After graduation, Jimenez plans to go to graduate school, studying public policy or continuing with international studies. She hopes to focus on underprivileged communities, specifically in regards to education, immigration and crime.
As shown time and time again, Jimenez will always find a way. Her ability to continuously go above and beyond what people anticipate has definitely taught people to expect the unexpected.
Release courtesy University of Michigan Athletics Communications (by Austin Turner)
