Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1023533
163 I t was Ben Colin's goal to become a University of Iowa student-athlete dating back to his days on the swimming and diving team at Dubuque (Iowa) Senior High School. e walk-on is now a senior on Iowa's swimming and diving team, where he has contributed much more to the university than three career bests at the Big Ten Championships in February. Colin, an Academic All-Big Ten selection, is involved with student government, Athletes in Action, and the Presidential Committee on Athletes. For the 2018- 19 academic year, he will chair the Iowa Student- Athlete Advisory Committee (ISAAC). "For me, swimming has opened numerous doors and the biggest one of those being my involvement with the Iowa Student-Athlete Advisory Committee," Colin said during a University of Iowa Athletics Department all-staff meeting Aug. 15. "ISAAC is a way I can be involved in something that is bigger than my sport and helps me feel I am having an impact in some way other than just in the water." But it was the water that pulled Colin from Dubuque to Iowa City. "It had been a dream of mine forever to come and swim at Iowa," he said. "I watched club teammates go off and become Hawkeyes and it was always something I wanted to do; that dream became a reality." During the 2018 Big Ten Championships from Feb. 21-24 in Minneapolis, Colin finished in the top 47 of three events and established personal bests in the 1,650-yard freestyle (27th, 15:41.13), 500 freestyle (34th, 4:27.30), and 200 freestyle (47th, 1:39.38). At the all-staff meeting held five days before the beginning of fall classes, Colin unveiled three goals he has as ISAAC chair. ey are titled Leaving a Legacy, Student-Athlete Well-Being, and Aer Iowa. "A huge part of Leaving a Legacy is our relationship with student government," Colin said. "I want to try to unite our voice with University of Iowa Student Government and work together. Iowa City gives so much to us as student-athletes and we want to be able to give back to them." As for student-athlete well-being, Colin places an emphasis on mental health. "We want to be able to support the student- athletes who really need it," he said. "It is more than just the day-to-day training that we all go through." Colin envisions ISAAC assisting student-athletes as they shi from lives dominated by sports practice and competition to professional careers. "We want to help them as they transition from being a college student into the work world," Colin said. "As we go from sport-dominated lives into the next stage of our life, we want to be able to help with that transition and make it as smooth as possible so the student-athletes that are going from Iowa into the real world can feel confident moving away from sports." Colin beams when forecasting what ISAAC can accomplish from Kickoff at Kinnick on Aug. 17 until e Golden Herkys in May. "I see this year as a great opportunity for ISAAC to grow and for the student-athlete impact to be increased," Colin said. "For us to get a lot done as far as working toward making this an even more positive student-athlete experience for the student- athletes that are at Iowa."