| Andrija Vasiljevic: Excellence
in the Classroom and the Pool
Imagine swimming or playing water polo for five
or six hours per day, and taking a full load of classes in addition
to all that water time. Our aquatics athletes do just that. Now
imagine holding a 3.5 GPA in an Interdisciplinary Studies major
that focuses on political and economic transition in Eastern Europe
in addition to spending all of that time at the pool. Now imagine
you’re doing all of this in your second language. Wow!
Meet Andrija Vasiljevic, a senior on the NCAA Champion Cal Men’s
Water Polo team, who has been named both an All-American and an
Academic All-American. He shares that honor with two other players
on his team: Michael Sharf and Brian Bacharach. Andrija is originally
from Serbia, and he came to the US four years ago to play water
polo and attend college at Cal. It wasn’t always easy. “Education
here (US) and there (Serbia) is completely different,” Andrija
said. “In Serbia a lot of grades are based on oral exams,
and here it’s all writing.”
Andrija worked with a writing teacher from the athletic study
center to help him understand how to organize and write an American
college paper. “An intro, a thesis, a body—you know?
We didn’t write that way in Serbia. We just gave the facts.”
He says thet 'Politics and Government of Eastern Europe'
with Professor Jason Wittenberg is the best class he’s taken
at Cal. “I changed the focus of my major after that class,
from Western Europe to Eastern Europe,” Andrija said. “I
also really enjoyed Professor Steven Fish’s 'Transitions
to Democracy' class.”
Andrija said he owes his success in school to his mom, who taught
him how to study when he was quite young. “She taught me
what to look at and what to focus on,” he said. His mom
is a doctor, a blood transfusionist, and his father is a mechanical
engineer. They live in Serbia with his 17 year-old sister.
Andrija will travel to Serbia this summer and return to Cal in
the fall to write his thesis and to help coach the men’s
team. After that, he plans to apply for jobs and possibly graduate
school, hoping to use his major as a springboard into an investment
consulting position for companies interested in doing business
in Eastern Europe. “I grew up there, and I know the issues
and the roots of the economic problems, and I was educated here,”
he said. “So I know both sides.”
Andrija has enjoyed his years at Cal. “I’m 100% happy
about my decision to come here,” he said. “I don’t
think I could be happier anywhere else.”
By Alicia Rowell
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