BALTIMORE, Md. — The hope of any NCAA Division III coach is that their student-athletes will not only find success in their sport, but find it later in their careers well after graduation.  At Notre Dame of Maryland University, the mission is to educate leaders to transform the world - Cleaya Antes is just one of many former NDMU student-athletes that live out that mission every day and continue to give back to the Notre Dame campus community.
 

Antes was a decorated student and athlete that attended Notre Dame from 2013-17, graduating with a degree in Nursing.  She graduated magna cum laude and was a member of Sigma Theta Tau (Nurse Honor Society), Delta Epsilon Sigma (National Scholastic Honor Society), and Chi Alpha Sigma (Student-Athlete Honor Society).  She also earned four Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) All-Academic Honors, finishing with a 3.2 or higher in the fall semester.

In her four volleyball seasons, she earned six post-season CSAC recognitions.  She was a two-time First Team All-CSAC member, and was named to the Second Team and Honorable Mention Team once apiece.  In her rookie season, she was named the CSAC Rookie of the Year and in 2016, was the conference's inaugural CSAC Defensive Player of the Year.  She was later named to the CSAC 25^th Anniversary Team, recognizing all of her accomplishments.

Antes played in 98 matches for the Gators over her four seasons.  She is seventh in the CSAC record books for digs in a career with 1,694.  In her career, she also saw several national rankings including, sixth in aces per set (0.91) in 2015 and 12th in her final season in aces per set with 0.76.

Currently, Antes is working in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore City.  As a nurse in the ICU, Antes is responsible for: bedside patient and family care, monitoring patient condition changes and critical think the best treatments, and collaborate with the medical ICU team just to name a few.

Antes credits her successful post collegiate career to her time spent on the volleyball court.  "Recruiters look for nursing students that have played sports in college," claimed Antes. "They know that more often than not, student-athletes know about the importance of time management and know how to keep organized in overwhelming situations."  The pressures that nurses will find at work are similar to the ones that are experience in school.  Antes knows the pressure of having to perform well in both her academics and athletics prepared her to embrace and perform in the stresses that she faces every day in the ICU.

Student-athletes will learn many firm lessons over their collegiate career, but the one Antes said she uses every day in her career is: "delegation".  She found the similarities of being a leader on the court and in the hospital saying, "you have to empower people to trust that they can do something even if it is outside their comfort zone."  Antes, being a leader of the NDMU defense for four seasons had plenty experience directing her team.

Like many Notre Dame alums, Antes still has strong ties with students on campus.  Since her graduation in 2017, Antes as served as an assistant volleyball coach and is a Cultivating Academic Success, Responsibility, and Excellence (CARE) Coach for the nursing program. 
 
As a CARE Coach, Antes mentors students through the nursing program in different ways.  Working mostly with juniors and seniors, Antes meets once a week with students, creating mock quizzes and test, and make sure that they understanding new concepts learned each week.  Another facet of CARE coaching is to also to give career advice and provide overall mentorship through the process.

The advice that Antes would like to share to current students at Notre Dame is: "Believe in yourself and don't compare yourself to others."  Every student takes a different path to success, but they cannot be afraid to take risks.  Antes originally coming to Notre Dame with the intention to go into pharmacy, made an early switch to nursing and did not look back.  Now, she donates her time to the future nurses of NDMU.  This past fall, nursing students made up nearly a third of the NDMU student-athletes named to the CSAC All-Academic Team.

What makes Notre Dame so special to Antes is that every student is cared for in some way.  She found that the relationships both personally and professionally that she developed in her four years are one that can be relied on for a lifetime.  Going through some tough times during school, Antes found that, "You always have someone to call."  Throughout her collegiate career, she turned to friends, family, professors, and coaches when she needed help and was never turned away. 

On February 12, share your Notre Dame story and why you support the Gator Fund and NDMU student-athletes on social media using #ThisDayOurNDMU.

Tomorrow we will highlight junior softball student-athlete Isa Carunungan.  Carunungan was one of two student-athletes that attended the NCAA Convention in January as she is a part of the 2019 NCAA Division III Student Immersion Program — a select group of 40 ethnic minority student-athletes from across all Division III institutions.

The Gator Fund can be accessed through the Notre Dame Gators webpage at notredamegators.com/donate.