Student Cory Vejraska entered the School of Education seeking to combine two of his passions: history and basketball. The Alachua, Fla., resident is a secondary education-social studies major who wants to teach high school history and coach basketball.

“I think I relate to older kids,” he says. “I can push them and challenge them to succeed in more ways than one – athletically and scholastically.”

The teachers in his life inspired his goal.

“I’ve always had really good teachers, growing up -- teachers who were really kind, taking the time to teach me what I needed to know,” he says. “They really made me feel fond of this profession.”

A power forward on SNHU’s basketball team, Cory comes from a family of basketball players. His twin brother plays for Campbell University, and his father is a hall-of-famer from his days playing for the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

“I’ve always been around basketball,” he says. “I could play the game my whole life.”

Though only in his second year, Cory already has spent hours in real high school classrooms, as field work is part of the curriculum from day one.

“You get to look at it from the perspective of a teacher and a student. It’s very helpful,” he says.

His SNHU professors also have been helpful.

“They’re there for you in every aspect of your life,” he says. “They come to my basketball games and cheer for me. You wouldn’t get that at a large university.

“(Prof.) Audrey (Rogers) has led me down a great path. I know if I went to a large university, I wouldn’t have had the one-on-one time with an adviser that Audrey gives me.”