Oberlin College Athletics

It is no secret that Oberlin College women's soccer senior striker Gwennie Gardiner is fast – really fast. The dual-sport athlete was a prolific scorer on the soccer pitch and is speed-demon on the track.
 
The San Diego, California, native is a three-time All-NCAC selection in soccer and has been an All-NCAC finisher in track as part of her relay team. A 2016 All-NCAC first-team selection and 2017 Player of the Year candidate, Gardiner recently concluded one the greatest careers in the history of the women's soccer program.  
 
Like her goals per game average, Gardiner's grade point average is also very high. The former Academic All-Ohio selection has earned a 3.42 GPA while majoring in English and history. Her success on the pitch and track derive from her hard work and dedication – two qualities she mirrors in the classroom.
 
"I've found the best way to overcome (any negative athlete) stereotypes is for us to show how much we care about our work in the classroom." She noted, "I've found that many non-athletes are surprised when they find out my teammates and I are athletes because we don't fit into the stereotype of not caring about school that they were used to in high school."
 
While she, her coaches, and teammates constantly strategize on how to be successful against their opponents in competition, Gardiner spent the summer doing a different sort of strategizing as an intern at 22squared in Tampa, Florida, which is the fourth largest independent advertising agency in the country.
 
As the strategy intern, she provided market research to an array of clients, including grocery store chain, Publix. She also led the efforts in the "Keep Tampa Beautiful" campaign and presented her creative plan to eight board members.
 
"I realized pretty quickly just how much I'd gotten from an Oberlin education in my three years. Despite not knowing anything about advertising, I was eager to apply the reading, writing, and researching skills I'd learned at Oberlin through my English and history majors toward creating strategy for campaigns."
 
Gardiner's first professional experience in the public relations sector came in the summer of 2016 as she interned with the firm PlainClarity. She produced press releases and led business development for five clients while assisting with the company's branding and social media.
 
"Over the past two years, I grew to love the field and became passionate about the potential of working in that arena. Strategy is a bit niche. When people think of advertising, they think of funny commercials and big billboards, but I don't think they think so much about the research that went into that ad. I grew to appreciate a niche field like that in my time at Oberlin."
 
With her soccer career now in the rearview, Gardiner's athletic focus will shift to the oval. Prior to coming to Oberlin, she had just one full season of track under her belt in high school, and she had never run an indoor meet before, which makes her accomplishments even more surprising.
 
In the second semester of the 2016-17 school year, she helped the women's track and field team win both North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships – marking the first time in school history Oberlin has claimed the conference crown in both sports in the same season.
 
"I had a lot of work to do when I got here in order to compete at the collegiate level," she said. "Because of that, breaking the school record in the 4x400 meter relay indoors my sophomore year is one of my proudest moments as an Oberlin student-athlete."
 
At Oberlin, Gardiner is much more than an athlete as she serves as the production editor of the Oberlin Review while also working at the school's writing center, where she assists other students with a variety of projects as the lead associate for the history department.
 
"My Oberlin experience has allowed me to engage critically with everything and everyone around me, whether that be through conversation, literary analysis, or virtually every other interaction I've had here. Through being on two teams, working three jobs, and taking a full course-load, I feel that I've gained skills here that I'll be able to continue to build on for the rest of my time at Oberlin and beyond."
 
Life after Oberlin will feature her marriage to former Oberlin College football player Ben Venerdi '17. Finding her soulmate at Oberlin is one of the many memories that she will cherish forever.
 
"There is no place like Oberlin.  I am grateful for the opportunity to continue my career in two sports while obtaining a world-class education."