Sarah Renner has been a part of the biggest transformation period in Georgia State history. From the time she arrived from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to play volleyball five years ago to now being a part of the athletics department business office while working on an MBA, she has seen more growth than at any other point in Georgia State history. She recently sat down to tell her story about what it means to be at GSU.
My experience as a student-athlete at Georgia State has shaped my athletic, my academic, and my early professional career in a powerful way. In 2014, I was recruited from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to play for the Panther volleyball team. I remember my coach, Sally Polhamus, telling me about both the vision for the university and her vision for the volleyball program that she had just taken the lead of at the time. I loved the city environment, I was impressed by the Robinson College of Business, and most importantly I knew I wanted to play for Sally. I committed and I know its cliché, but the rest is history—I played all four years of my college eligibility as a setter for the volleyball team from 2015-2018. I graduated magna cum laude with honors and earned an accounting degree in December 2018.
While I was a student-athlete I was also a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, serving as secretary my sophomore year and eventually as president my senior year. I enjoyed volunteering and being involved in discussions about NCAA legislation. I learned a lot about leadership and the process of initiating change while I was the student-athlete representative for the athletic department. I even stepped out of my comfort zone to cohost the Golden Panther Awards twice. I'm very grateful for the various opportunities I had to develop leadership skills because of my involvement with SAAC.
Now, I'm living life after sports. I'm still on campus working toward an MBA with a concentration in Finance at the Robinson College of Business. I was fortunate that even post-graduation, I had support from Director of Athletics Charlie Cobb and Senior Associate A.D. for Business and Human Resources Elisha Howell, who let me be a graduate assistant in the athletics business office. Last spring, Charlie introduced me to Brad Ferrer, who is a board member for GSUAA and the CFO at CNN. Last summer I was an intern for CNN Digital, and I learned more about the role of a Financial Analyst in a real-world, hands on way. I got to participate in forecasting, expense tracking and reporting, and creating materials for leaders within the organization. This experience helped me feel more confident and excited about my career path as a corporate financial analyst, and I'm very happy to be interning with WarnerMedia again this summer.
During my time at Georgia State, I have seen the practice gym built next to the GSU Sports Arena, the volleyball locker room renovated, and Georgia State Stadium acquired. Before I'm done with my master's degree this fall, I will even see the start of a new convocation center. Georgia State Athletics has become something greater than anyone could have imagined five years ago. Our teams now have facilities to call "home" and continue to have scholarships available to deserving student-athletes because of the generosity of donors. I've seen and personally experienced the difference this makes for the athletes that use these facilities and depend on these scholarships, and I'm excited to see what Georgia State continues to become in another five years.
