With their names and faces popping up all over Sports Illustrated and ESPN, it’s easy to forget that college athletes are, in fact, students. Virginia Magazine caught up with a few of UVA’s student-athletes to ask about their lives on Grounds.

Malcolm Brogdon

Basketball player and Range resident Malcolm Brogdon (Col ’15, Batten ’16) says he plans to play basketball for a few more years, then either work for or start a nonprofit focused on alleviating poverty in developing nations.

Is your day-to-day routine different this year now that you’re in graduate school?

For sure. Undergrad is more individual, so everyone works on their own. But in this master’s program, most of the work is group-oriented. I’m always meeting outside of class with different groups, so that’s been sort of an adjustment for me, trying to manage other people’s schedules as I’m managing mine.

What has been your favorite paper to write?

I wrote a term paper on U.S. aid to Africa, and Africa is where I want to focus my work. I learned that giving money isn’t always the best way to aid a country and its people; humanitarian aid is better. For example, some villages in Africa don’t get enough clean water, and that has to change. We can help them build new, sustainable structures that give them clean water so that when [the aid workers] leave, the village has methods that will last.

If you had one extra hour each day, how would you spend it?

I’d spend it sleeping. I know that’s a boring answer, but I like to spend my time recovering and resting for my next day of adventures on and off the court. It’s easy for me to sleep; I’m usually exhausted.