Balancing being the San Jose State women’s soccer captain and a chemical engineering major isn’t easy, but Bella Bowers said she isn’t backing down from the challenge.
For some student-athletes, performing well in your sport and keeping up with a demanding course load can be difficult, but Bowers’ mentality helps her handle both.
“I try to mentally be in what’s right in front of me in that moment,” Bowers said over the phone. “When I’m at soccer practice it’s like ‘OK everything else aside and just soccer.’ When it comes to school, everything athletic related is just put aside to just do school.”
Bowers constantly switches between soccer, Zoom classes and homework almost every day.
“[I spend] two or three hours for soccer, whether that’s [physical training], getting to the locker room, stretching after practice and that kind of stuff,” Bowers said. “Then classes is a little bit more, I’m sitting in front of a computer for four hours. That’s not even counting work, assignments and stuff for quizzes.”
Volunteer women’s soccer assistant coach, Zoe Makrigiannis, said that leadership qualities is what make Bowers the perfect team captain and an inspiration to her teammates.
“She’s a captain for us and a big-time leader and she goes out of her way to help others with their academics. As a coach it’s cool to see her grow and develop into this role,” Makrigiannis said over the phone. “The older you get in a degree, the harder the classes, but [it’s] kind of the same with sports. She’s taken on more responsibility and to see her be able to manage that and thrive in both of her realms is pretty impressive.”
Natasha Harris, a defender for the soccer team and friend of Bowers, said that Bowers is a perfect example of what a student-athlete could and should represent.
“She is super understanding to everybody, and in practice she’s always asking a bunch of questions which is super helpful for the new girls,” Harris said. “She’s always doing extra work. Even as a freshman she was always putting in extra work on top of being in all her classes.”
Makrigiannis said the rest of the team also see Bowers as a leader who has the full support of her peers and coaches.
“It takes a big ounce of leadership and a huge ounce of respect,” Makrigiannis said. “Bella is an individual, who not only in the classroom, but as an athlete, goes out of her way to individually train, encourage others to train and do more than just what we do on the field.”
Bowers won multiple awards for academic and athletic excellence, including the Fall 2018 All-Mountain West Team, Fall 2019 All-Mountain West Team and multiple most-valuable-player and defender-of-the-year awards.
Bowers said her family is her biggest inspiration. Soccer is her passion, but she said chemical engineering is a calling for her and that her family is there supporting her every step of the way.
“My parents are people who are like ‘Hey, do what you want, do what you know you can do and always push yourself, don’t settle,’ ” Bowers said. “Coming into college, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew what I was good at, so I was like, ‘Hey, why not just try it?’ Whatever I’m doing in school they’re always just behind me, my No. 1 supporters in everything I do.”
Bowers said she is not sure what she wants to do as a chemical engineer yet, but she has some ideas.
“I definitely want to explore my options. Maybe go into cosmetics, or the pharmaceutical industry, something environmental,” Bowers said. “I’m pretty open to anything and
there’s such a wide variety of things I could do as a chemical engineer. I’m not really against anything.”
