The leader: Sydney Herzmann's student spotlight

Sydney Herzmann holds the role of an outstanding student athlete while partaking in Clarke clubs to increase her involvement. She is president of CSA and Mathematics club, vice president of the biology club, and represents leadership as Captain of the women’s soccer second team. She is a double major and works hard on her academics to pursue her dreams of being a large animal vet. Syd carries many accomplishments during her career here at Clarke, but what more is there to know about this student athlete filled with dreams?

To begin with, Syd is an organized, independent individual with aspirations and dreams, and has already set herself up for success in her future. Her first plan after Clarke is to attend Iowa State for vet school. The program is four years and has many research opportunities to achieve a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine professional degree. She has interest in the reproduction of animals in an attempt to pursue a large animal veterinarian career. A rural community is where she sees herself living after school, traveling about a 90-mile radius around her residence to work with small farms, mainly cattle, beef, or dairy farms. Her inspiration peaked at a young age, spending an immense amount of time on her grandparents’ dairy farm, and working with her uncle at his beef farm. She says when it comes to cattle, she appreciates the consistency in what you get out of them, always knowing what you are going to get. Throughout her journey, she foresees her family and close friends to join her along the way.

Her support system is significant for her driven motivation to finish vet school in four years. “Undergrad is hard, but vet school is whole different thing,” Syd states. It is important for her to have people who show real support and have an understanding of who she is as a person because vet school is not for the weak. However, her biggest fear currently is not getting into vet school. Iowa State holds a low acceptance rate for the program, bringing in very small class sizes up to about 160, 60 of which are for in-state residents. She’s fighting for her spot out of thousands of people who apply for a seat at Iowa State. Although she has fears of rejection, her confidence to getting in, leaves no room for a back-up plan for Syd. She fully believes that she will attend Iowa State and even if she doesn’t make it a first time, her motivation does not stop her from trying again a second time.  

Being involved with so many clubs and positions at Clarke, the resilience and determination Syd has is beyond imaginable for most students. However, even with so many involvements, president of CSA also gets overwhelmed and stressed at times. Her mental health moves in waves of good and bad during stressful periods. She fears failure, looking at it as a step back to her ultimate goal of attaining acceptance to vet school. A competitive GPA is a requirement to reach her goals, so when life get tough, she continues to tell herself to just do it, keep pushing through because there is purpose in everything to reach her goal. If Syd has at least one positive thing going for her every week, she can accomplish anything. This mindset has been implemented by her parents. Working with her mom at a daycare was an expectation for her to spend her free time in high school and her dad has two careers with influence as a driven father. Syd is inspired by her parents’ work ethic and has learned important values to be successful from them.  

Syd’s relationships with faculty and students at Clarke hold strong bonds that she will cherish forever. As a leader on her soccer team, she has grown powerful connections with her teammates. She sees them more than just teammates, but as some of her closest friends too. She lives, loves, and laughs at home, living with five teammates, all of which are her best friends. Her captain role on Clarke’s soccer team is represented through being a verbal leader, being vocal during games, working really hard for herself and team, and leading by example. She has constructive attributes of leadership by positively offering criticism and feedback but conveying positive reinforcement. This year was tough for Syd because she put a lot of pressure on herself based off of the increase of freshmen soccer players that came into the soccer program. However, she knew she was always meant to be a leader due to her outspoken qualities.  

As for faculty and stuff, she loves them and thinks they are amazing. She described the professors at Clarke as supportive and understanding. She shouts out Callie Clarke for being a great resource for her, collaborating with ideas that are helpful for each other. In addition, Syd also shared her appreciation for Tony Breitbach, who has made major impact for her well-being. She looks at Tony as a safe place to share her thoughts and feelings about chemistry, life, soccer, and so on. She talks to him about everything, and Tony understands Syd. Even when he doesn’t, he tries to understand and show her guidance through advice. Because of Syd’s close-knit relationships with students and staff at Clarke, her support system drives her to be the best version of herself.  

Being a strong independent woman, with her first priority of being a vet, Syd is a focused-driven individual who thrives in busy work. The Clarke community is blessed to have someone like Syd who values her relationships with herself and others, strives to always do well on exams and classes, enjoys spending time with her friends, loves playing soccer, and enjoys traveling to new places. She ultimately would do anything to do what is best for her. Her success is measured by her journey of becoming a vet and living in a rural area with land, cattle, and a family. Sydney Herzmann says, “You can’t just be lucky, you have to work for things you want, so just work hard. It may be a little bit of luck but a lot of what I do is hard work, and I take pride in that.”