The University of South Florida has teamed up with Northwestern Mutual Teague Financial Group to spotlight the top Bulls in the classroom with the Northwestern Mutual Academic Student-Athlete of the Month award.

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

TAMPA - Senior Janice Rivera has always kept her game at a high level on the volleyball court and recently became only the 10^th Bull to post 1,000 career digs.

Midway through her college career, the libero realized the importance of academics and has been soaring to new heights in the classroom since then.

"You grow up and you start realizing priorities," Rivera said. "Some people get it right away and some people it takes until your sophomore, junior year to see how important school is."

Rivera's dedication to hitting the books showed last school year when he posted a 3.5 grade point average and now she's being rewarded for her efforts. Rivera is USF's Northwestern Mutual Student-Athlete of the Month for October.

"I've been doing really good," she said.

Balancing school, sports and a life can be a difficult task, and Rivera said it's all about time management.

"Your time is very limited and you have to schedule it. That's the most important thing is organization," she said.

Having a lot of responsibilities now will benefit Rivera in the future. She plans to become a physician's assistant and will have two more years of schooling to accomplish the feat.

"It sounds pretty interesting," she said.

What kind of fueled the fire for the profession was Rivera's favorite class yet - Chemistry I - which isn't exactly the easiest course universities have to offer.

"Half the class had to drop and I was like, 'Wow I get it and I like it,' " she said. "It was tough, but I ended up doing really well."