Florida Tech Scholar-Athlete Spotlight Recognizes Women’s Basketball Player Farah Shaaban
By Jerry Durney, Florida Tech News Bureau // January 22, 2023
Shaaban is majoring in Aerospace Engineering
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Being a scholar-athlete at Florida Tech takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to excel both in the classroom and on the field. In this Scholar-Athlete Spotlight, we are featuring Panther women’s basketball player Farah Shaaban, a sophomore who is majoring in Aerospace Engineering.
A transfer from St. Louis Community College after growing up in Cairo, Egypt, Shaaban has played in all 14 games this season after playing in 11 games in 2021-22.
Following the conclusion of the 2021-22 season, Farah was named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s and Florida Tech Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.
We talked with Farah about how she handles the demands of her major and her sport as well as what sparked her desire for a career with planes.
■ What’s your major at Florida Tech and why did you choose this? Is it something that you’ve always wanted to do?
I’m majoring in aerospace engineering, and I’ve practically wanted to do this since I was maybe eight. I’ve always had a really big interest in planes and making models and all that, so I was overjoyed when I got accepted here.
■ What was it about Florida Tech that drew you here?
First off, with Coach Reynolds, it just went super good, and then like I said, Florida Tech, aerospace engineering, it can’t get better than that. The beach is a plus, so everything just kind of lined up.
■ How do you plan to use your degree after graduation?
After graduating, I’m planning to work for a little bit, and then I want to come back, finish my master’s, probably in-flight testing, and then, hopefully, test flights.
■ What are some of the exciting projects that you’ve been able to work on in classes here?
So far, I’ve worked on a helicopter rotor head, I had to design that all by myself in Creo, so that was really nice. I also had to design a menzi mug for solids modeling, which was also really cool.
I really like the designing part of my major and that’s hopefully what I plan on doing.
■ Your season runs from early November through the end of February with a lot of practices and road trips in between, how do you keep everything balanced once the season starts?
It does kind of get overwhelming at times but just stay on top of everything, planning my day ahead of time.
I know what I’m doing the next day before I go to bed. So, just having everything in my calendar and booking times for food, things like that.
How has being a collegiate athlete prepared you for what you’re doing now and what do you take from the court that you apply to your studies?
Basketball has definitely taught me a lot. Especially leadership, communication, all that translates into the junior design, senior design, and all that in my studies, but also the community and how to interact with other people and how to treat other people, that came from basketball.
■ What advice would you give to an athlete coming to Florida Tech that has an interest in Aerospace Engineering?
Um, I would say take advantage of all the resources that you have at Florida Tech. All the clubs, all the professors, get to know your professors, talk to them, go to their office hours and they will keep you on track.
■ What have you enjoyed the most about your time at Florida Tech and with the women’s basketball program?
The trips to Tampa last year and this year, they’re always fun. We went to the movies this last trip. It’s always a good time with the team honestly.
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