Zinkl Shines in Athletics, Academics, and Professional Development

Women's lacrosse junior Lauren Zinkl has continued to demonstrate excellence on and off the field. While Temple Athletics has continued to shine in diversity of majors among its student-athletes, you will not find many Division 1 athletes who are able to balance the rigor of sport and the demand of a mechanical engineering major.

Zinkl has not only balanced these well, but she has received honors for her performance. She has landed on the President's Honor Roll during both her years at Temple. In addition, during her sophomore campaign she earned a spot on the American Athletic Conference All-Academic team.

A lot of things about Temple stood out for Zinkl, but when it came time to put pen to paper, it was the academics that stood out for the future engineer.

"I chose Temple because I was going to be able to play lacrosse while studying mechanical engineering, which is something you cannot do at every school," she said.

Zinkl also noted that the coaching staff and facilities were something that stood out in her decision-making process.

The transition was not too difficult for Zinkl thanks to her high school academic programming. In high school, Zinkl was a part of "Project Lead the Way, which was an engineering-based track, so I was able to take five engineering courses in high school while balancing with athletics," she said.

In addition to her academic accomplishments to dates, she is preparing herself for a career following graduation. During the 2019-2020 academic year, Zinkl was offered a position with the Installation and Logistics team at the National Security Agency.

An internship with the NSA is one of incredible prestige as successful candidates will have to obtain a top-secret clearance. Zinkl had to take a polygraph test in addition to having her clearance provider reach out to friends for questioning.

"It was a very long and intensive process," said Zinkl.

Unfortunately, due to the onset of the COVID-19 Global Health Pandemic, Zinkl's internship was canceled for the summer of 2020.

Zinkl's optimism about her career did not waver due to these unfortunate circumstances. The summer following junior year is often the most important time period for post-graduation job prospects. She has been told to reapply for the NSA internship and is looking at other opportunities relevant to her field.

Regardless of where Zinkl lands, she will be taking a breadth of expertise to her position. She will graduate in 2022 with a bachelor's and master's degree in mechanical engineering.

Temple University Athletics

Zinkl Shines in Athletics, Academics, and Professional Development

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