Stemming from his formative years as a soccer player, Garret Biese has always focused on setting and accomplishing personal goals. Soccer has been an important part of his life, teaching him vital life lessons such as the ability to look beyond the immediate outcome and work on improving the other factors that go into a performance.
For example, he says, “You have to understand how to eat right and go to bed early and do other things that people don't necessarily see on the field.”
Garret first came to Geneva for an overnight stay with the Geneva Men's Soccer team late into his senior year of high school. He was there not only to witness the Geneva experience first-hand, but also to participate in the soccer team's winter clinic.
“It was a great opportunity to meet people and experience campus,” he says. “In the end, I got to know the guys and hear their testimonies of how influential Geneva has been in their lives. I realized that this college could help me become the man I wanted to be.”
That help came quickly once Garret arrived at Geneva for his first semester. Besides being a member of the soccer team, Garret got involved in a variety of other experiences such as interning in the Admissions Office, tutoring, working as a teacher's assistant and participating as a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
But soccer continues to teach Garret important lessons. Last year, the team travelled to Florida for the Christian Conference Championships. Many of the other teams underestimated Geneva’s abilities; however, after they defeated both the defending champions and the second-seeded team, they ultimately finished second in the tournament. The Golden Tornadoes earned the other teams’ respect.
All of these experiences have helped Garret realize that his goals need to address more than just individual improvement and also focus on the collective effort. “You can excel with your own personal goals and scores and get all these assists, but if you're team isn't successful, you won't win,” says Garret. “It's more than having the best team, it's about who can come together and play the best as a team. This is a good metaphor for our faith. We need to be a team in the Body of Christ.”
Because he has a heart for service, Garret’s goal-setting has expanded beyond the soccer field and into the classroom. And one day this practice should help him realize his aim of helping people through a career as a physical therapist. He hopes to use his talents to help those who have suffered injury and are trying to function better.
To prepare to become a physical therapist, Garret is majoring in biology. His favorite classes are Immunology and Biochemistry, although he admits that he didn’t have the strongest chemistry background coming into college. Garret says that the professors in the chemistry department, like Dr. Rodney Austin, have taken the time and given him the personal attention he needed. Now, he is even successfully pursuing a minor in chemistry.
Biology professor and department chair Dr. Daryl Sas has also taught Garret important lessons, helping him realize how to approach both biology and ethical issues as a Christian.
Following graduation, Garret plans on furthering his education through a master’s degree physical therapy program. And he feels confident that his education at Geneva has prepared him for graduate school—that and his goal-oriented philosophy. “Oftentimes we get pent up in the mundane, but if you work towards a goal you can accomplish it,” he says. “Physical therapy is all about that.”
-Benjamin S. Butler '14