GREEM BAY (NBC 26) — A pilot transfer agreement between St. Norbert College (SNC), Bellin College and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is helping student-athletes like Madison DeCleene have “the best of two worlds.”
The new program allows student-athletes who complete two years at SNC and meet NCAA requirements to continue their college athletic careers at Bellin College.
DeCleene was the first student accepted into the program.
She received the news as she was preparing her ‘goodbye’ to college athletics last spring, at the end of her sophomore year.
“I immediately started happy crying,” DeCleene remembered. “And, I called my family, like, ‘I can still run!”
The track and cross country athlete had enrolled at SNC as a nursing major with the understanding that her studies would put a two-year limit on her athletic career.
“It definitely was a hard pill to swallow,” said DeCleene. “Up until this point, it was thought you could only do one or the other.”
She expressed excitement over the opportunity to advance her education through classes at Bellin College while continuing to run with her friends on the SNC track and cross-country teams.
“This program has really changed my college experience,” DeCleene remarked. "I have the best of both worlds."
Watch the full story by Jessica Goska here:
St. Norbert and Bellin Colleges are the first partner schools in the country to be approved for the NCAA pilot agreement. There are currently two students in the program.
“I think the four-year opportunity to be an athlete is something that when you start the process of trying to be an athlete is something that you want to finish,” stated Mike Wallerich, SNC assistant athletic director and manger of NCAA compliance and eligibility.
Wallerich said he’d like to see the program expand in the future to reach more students.
The initiative is a draw for SNC’s recruiters, noted Wallerich, who said it’s been difficult for the school to attract talent interested in the medical field because of a potential two-year limit to the athletes’ careers.
For DeCleene, who started classes at Bellin College this fall, the ability to put on the SNC uniform feels like she’s gotten back ‘stolen time.’
“I thought I would have to say ‘goodbye,’” DeCleene remembered. “Seeing your family cheer for you during the race, or your best friends—having them there—those little things...are the things I’m cherishing the most.”
