Many people have preconceived notions of home-schooled kids as weird, socially awkward or abnormally smart.
But students who were home-schooled can blend in at a public university, even in college athletics. Several home-schooled student-athletes at LSU in multiple sports have assimilated with the rest of the student body.
Tennis senior Whitney Wolf was home-schooled in Pride, La., before coming to LSU and claiming a No. 52 national ranking in singles during the fall 2011 season.
Being home-schooled gave Wolf more time to focus on tennis, which allowed her to participate in regional and national events in her early teen years and gain the attention of college coaches around age 16.
"We really start identifying kids late in their sophomore year and junior year [of high school]," said women's tennis coach Tony Minnis. "One of my former players coached [Wolf]. I thought she just had a tremendous upside, and I got on [recruiting her] really early."
For home-schooled students, the social and academic aspects of college can be a difficult adjustment. Minnis said the discipline that comes from home-schooling helps make up for that.
"One of the biggest parts of school is being exposed to other kids and being exposed to other things," Minnis said. "It can be tough, but [Wolf] has adapted well."
Gymnastics juniors Janelle Garcia and Ericka Garcia and sophomore Maliah Mathis are also among the few student-athletes who were home-schooled.
Janelle Garcia was home-schooled starting in the fourth grade in her hometown of Miami, until she attended high school in Orlando.
With her parents' support, she put gymnastics first and then built her education around it, all the way up until college.
"Without my parents, this wouldn't have been possible," Janelle said. "They have done anything and everything for me just so I could pursue my passion for gymnastics."
She said she doesn't remember exactly when recruiters started paying attention to her passion.
"The [college] scouts are always at meets, and you have no idea what's going on," Janelle said.
With the help of summer school going into her freshman year, she and the other two incoming freshmen gymnasts meshed into the college environment academically and socially.
Janelle said she was a social butterfly before being home-schooled, but then became more shy because she was engulfed in her schoolwork and gymnastics. She said she has since regained her social self.
"My first year [of home-schooling], I had kind of lost my personality," Janelle said. "I was very timid. I wasn't as outspoken as I really am. We came in during the summer, and we got to check it out and got to learn how to be in a classroom again."
Gymnastics coach D.D. Breaux said she wanted to ensure her home-schooled student-athletes received the right education and were tested properly.
"You have to be a lot more diligent about the gathering of information and the transcripts," Breaux said. "There's a lot more legwork to be done because the kids have been in multiple learning environments. My concern is making sure that if they're schooled at home, they're not tested at home."
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Contact Adrian Wintz at awintz@lsureveille.com
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