Name: Drew Lattimer
Hometown: Kingston, Ontario
Year: Senior
Major: Health Science
Sport(s): Baseball

I chose to attend Heidelberg because ...
The school's atmosphere felt right. It had the big university feel but a much smaller size. It was also a chance to get back to my roots and see my family more often and allow them to watch me play baseball again. 

The best part about playing a sport at Heidelberg is ...
The amount of support from everybody involved in the baseball program. I had moved around a lot in my life and wound up living in the United Kingdom for six years from the age of 10. During this time I wasn't able to play baseball and I received no coaching. Eventually, I moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada my sophomore year of high school and I picked baseball back up and still didn't receive quality coaching - until this point I had never seen a pitch from an actual player. I knew my ultimate goal was to play college baseball and it was going to be a challenge so I had to work hard. Heidelberg was only one of three schools to recruit me and they took the chance on me, which I will always be grateful for. Getting to Heidelberg was such a huge culture shock. I had never seen actual coaching and practicing and how intense it was - and I struggled. A lot. The coaching staff were always working with me, teaching me really solid fundamentals and getting me to understand how the game should be played at Heidelberg. Even when I messed up (which was a lot, early on), the coaches never gave up on teaching me the right way. As soon as I felt I started to make some really solid progress I tore my UCL at the end of fall ball during my sophomore year which required Tommy John surgery. This was a rough time and it really weighed heavy on me, but again the coaches supported me and never gave up on me. They always had something for me to do that made me feel important to the team. This is one of the things the coaches preach - everybody has value to the team. I missed out on my sophomore year of baseball and fall ball of my junior year. The recovery time was very long. I didn't start to feel like me again until the tail end of the season last year. Coming into this year, I was determined to work hard and make progress again, and I did. 

Heidelberg is unique because ... 
It is so easy to call this place home. You get to know people so quickly and form new relationships that it makes the transition to college life so much easier. Moreover, along with small class sizes, the faculty are always working to make sure that students are going to succeed here at Heidelberg with the Owens Center, tutoring sessions, counseling and office hours, there is always somebody who can help. HYPE is also a very unique experience. Getting to hear success stories, or even struggle stories, are some of the most inspiring and insightful things to get to experience from tons of different people.  

My career goal is ... 
To help and support people in the health care field. I am not entirely sure how just yet but it's definitely the field I want to work in. 

Describe your most unique experience at Heidelberg (top internships, study abroad, etc.) ... 
Outside of baseball, the very first HYPE speaker at Heidelberg that was hosted was Captain James Lovell, one of the first people to fly to space and orbit the moon. Hearing the stories he had about his days as an Astronaut were incredibly cool to hear and it was a very special opportunity to listen to him speak. Inside of baseball, however, was road tripping to Cedar Rapids, Iowa last year to watch the guys play in the College World Series. I was still struggling from my elbow recovery so I didn't get to travel with the team, but I still made the trip and it was the best experience I've had.