Yolanda Bogacz leaps for successVolleyball team captain Yolanda Bogacz was one of URI’s recent Rhodes Scholarship candidates with a 3.84 grade point average in a tough dual major. She also has a tremendous vertical leap that can traumatize opponents.
“I like the balance of academics and sports,” the middle blocker said breezily. “It prepares you for the future when you have to balance work and family.”
This year, she played in 24 games and earned herself a place on the American Volleyball Coaches Association all-region squad and the Atlantic 10 all-conference and all-academic squad. After leading her team to a third place finish in the regular season, which wrapped up on Nov. 9 in Keaney Gymansium, Bogacz and the Rhody Rams were whisked off to Dayton, Ohio, for the Atlantic 10 Semifinals. In the first game of the semifinals, she posted eight kills and a team-high three blocks, but URI was still edged out by the second-place Xavier, ending the Rams’ season.
With such a busy schedule, how does this honor student get her schoolwork done? “I do it anywhere and anyplace I can,” she said, noting that she can quickly convert airports, airplanes, and locker rooms into study areas.
A computer science and biology major, this daughter of Polish immigrants plans a career that combines the two disciplines. Her career path may lead to the field of bio-informatics in which the computer aids in the advancement of science, such as decoding the human genome. Or she may develop educational tutorials for the web. She will play volleyball, but only for fun and perhaps volunteer as a coach.
She began playing volleyball as a freshman at Haverhill (Mass.) High School. But she was exposed to the game as a child when her parents and sister, cousins, and aunt and uncles would often line up behind the net in the backyard and begin serving.
Her parents, Edward and Maria Bogacz, are among her biggest fans. The couple traveled two hours from Haverhill to attend every one of her home games.
Bogacz has thoroughly enjoyed her years at URI and playing volleyball. “The team is part of my family...my sisterhood,” she said. “It’s a great team. Everyone works so hard.”
“Yolanda has been the kid with the best attitude and work ethic in my 21 years here at URI,” said Bob Schneck, the women’s volleyball coach. “I hope someday my kids have an opportunity to grow up just like Yo.”
By Jan Wenzel
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