In Focus

by Gary Pine '84
photos by Don Milici

Rachel Messick '01 looks at the clock. It is 3 a.m., and she has a paper due in less than six hours. Though she would rather not, Messick cuts off a lengthy and insightful discussion with friends, heads out into the cold, still night, and jogs across campus to her apartment. She has work to do and not much time on her hands. As Messick sits down at her computer, she has little trouble putting her thoughts into words. Communication and competing come naturally to her.

Messick, 21, is a senior communication studies major at Azusa Pacific University, and nearly everything she does turns out first-class. She is an accomplished soccer player and an outstanding student.

On the field, Messick has been key in turning Azusa Pacific into a national soccer powerhouse. She has played in all 99 of Azusa Pacific's games the past three seasons. As a sophomore, she was a starter on the Cougars' 1998 NAIA national championship team, tallying 45 points and earning All-Golden State Athletic Conference recognition. By the time her soccer career ends in November, she will rank among the university's top three all-time scorers.

In the classroom, a smaller but no less-appreciative audience notices Messick's achievements. Through three years of course work, she has maintained a 3.73 grade-point average, an impressive feat when considering her dedication to soccer. As a result, she was named NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete, 1 of just 14 Cougar student-athletes to receive the prestigious honor during the 1999-2000 year.

Messick gets her athletic skill from her father, Les, a former college athlete himself who coached Messick for four years at Ontario Christian High School while doubling as the president of Five-Day Business Forms in Anaheim. Her mom, Sharon, who works at home as a medical transcriber, is a writer by nature. "I get a lot of my creativity from my mom," Messick said. "Being able to read her stories and poems has had a big influence on me."

Originally accepted at University of California, Santa Barbara, San Jose State University, and Westmont College, Messick had planned to study marine biology. "I wanted to be in the ocean and swim with the dolphins," she said.

However, there was too much indoor lab work for this outdoor girl, and a chance encounter had her interests steering away from the coast and toward the foothills of Azusa. "I never had a campus tour. In fact, I never really saw Azusa Pacific because I had a night tryout," Messick said. "But I liked APU. It felt right."

While soccer certainly has been an important ingredient of Messick's college experience, she has discovered just how rewarding and important her class work is to achieving a balanced student life. "I love soccer and my teammates, but I've grown to appreciate Azusa Pacific for the opportunities that have arisen beyond sports."

Through her media studies emphasis, Messick has developed an improved focus for her spiritual life and her future profession. "Dr. [Monica] Ganas really challenged my thinking," Messick said as she reflected upon Studies in Popular Culture, her most stimulating class to date. "She has a great way of putting things into a new perspective, and now I interpret everyday events or objects in my life through a different lens."

Through a class in video and television production, Messick has worked on an independent film, written, directed, and produced by Azusa Pacific faculty and students. The film, titled Dots, is to be completed this year and, hopefully, showcased at next year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. "Rachel has literally thrown herself into her media work at school and has moved on to outside projects as well," said Brandon Smith, video production supervisor. "She crewed on Dots where she went from being a walk-on to an invaluable part of the team within days."

Indeed, Messick has developed a passion for film and video production. And unknowingly, her 3 a.m. sessions are serving her well. "My roommates think I'm crazy for the hours I keep," Messick said. "But I learned on the set of Dots that you have to be able to produce on the spur of the moment. So in a way these late-night writing sessions are helping me develop that skill."