Sharif Shaker '15 Recruiting Profile

At the age of 7 I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, but by changing what had become an unhealthy lifestyle and dedicating myself to swimming I was able to overcome that illness.  Through swimming I have learned what can be accomplished with hard work and dedication and I push myself everyday because of that knowledge.  I am an extremely focused athlete and always aspire to achieve my goals, bringing my desire to reach those goals to every practice and competition.  I have received several awards for my dedication to the sport as well as coach's awards from both year round club teams I have competed with, and I was named team captain of my current team, a title that serves as a testament to both my work ethic and my ability to lead by example.  

Along with being a motivated athlete I am an extremely self motivated student.  I was homeschooled for almost all my life and that has played an important role in shaping me into a strong student and a unique individual.  Homeschooling has taught me how to be both disciplined and independent, two things that have led to my athletic and academic success.  I have a strong desire to learn and challenge myself both physically and mentally; I believe that it is imperative to exercise one's body as well as mind in order to live a full and balanced life, which is why swimming and academics are both so important to me.  I have achieved a GPA of 4.0 in all of my sophomore and junior year high school classes while taking several community college classes at Las Positas College, including an Algebra 2 class, two Spanish classes and an economics class, I received 4.0s in all of my college level classes and was on the Las Positas Academic Honors List every semester.  I am extremely goal oriented and I am very ambitious, but my ultimate aspiration, what I work towards every single day, is to become the greatest person that I can be in all facets of my life, and I believe that the best way for me to accomplish that goal is by taking both my swimming and my education to the next level and attending a four-year university.