Dan Mazzaferro just finished a senior season in which he won the SEC title in the 3-meter and platform diving events, earned All-American marks nine times and was a U.S. Olympic diving finalist.

But that’s not what’s exciting him the most right now.

That would be his summer internship in Prague — where he’s set to work at the top orthopedic hospital in the Czech Republic — and coming back to intern in the administrative wing of the East Alabama Medical Center, with the aim of producing a paper comparing the health care systems of the two countries.

Erica Meissner just wrapped up a swimming career at Auburn in which she earned All-American honors in 2008 and had the team’s second-best time in the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley this season.

But that’s not exciting her the most right now.

That would be writing and researching her honors thesis in community-supported agriculture, which includes learning the ropes at Randle Farms, and mulling her graduate school options.

“I’m a farmer three days a week,” Meissner said with a smile. “I’ve got worker boots and dirty jeans and everything. It’s been super fun because it’s totally out of my comfort zone, but that’s the way I wanted to do my research.

“I felt the best way to learn about that lifestyle was to just do it.”

The two Auburn athletes have shared a successful past and what looks to be a successful future, but they’ve also got something in the present to be proud of.

Mazzaferro and Meissner were named the 2011 recipients of the SEC’s H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year award Wednesday, a distinction that includes a $15,000 post-graduate scholarship to serve as a nest egg for their research endeavors.

It marks the first time an SEC school has swept the award, which has been given annually to one male and one female athlete since 1986.

“We both know we’re some of the top-caliber student-athletes at Auburn, and supposedly we’re also the top student-athletes in the SEC, which is an outstanding honor,” Mazzaferro said. “It’s exciting to go through it with (Meissner), because it just shows the type of people that are coming out of
Auburn as well.”

Mazzaferro earned a B.S. in Chemistry last May and is on track to earn his M.B.A. in December, two fields he hopes to combine by looking into hospital administration.

Meissner will earn a B.A. in Anthropology this summer, a degree she said will open her up to all sorts of grad school options, and is hoping to put her minor in Sustainability — the study of policies that can fill society’s present needs without jeopardizing resources for future generations — into good use.

Both also went through the application process for a Rhodes Scholarship — Meissner was named a finalist — an honor former Auburn swimmer Jordan Anderson earned last year.

In short, neither was short on things to do away from the pool.

“I like being busy and I like having stuff to do, and I certainly don’t have a lack of stuff to do now,” Meissner said. “Which wasn’t really anticipated. I expected to have more time on my hands now that I’m not in the pool four hours every day. But I picked up a lot of other things, a lot of other projects.
And it’s been fun. I’m certainly not wanting for things to do right now.”

Mazzaferro said being involved in athletics helped with his time management instead of crowding out his academic endeavors.

He said he learned that in high school when he was swimming, doing gymnastics and maintaining a high grade-point average.

“I feel like swimming and diving are sports where you’re continuously going. You don’t have an offseason,” Mazzaferro said. “Academics is first, it’s the most important. Then it’s athletics and extracurricular activities, whether it’s giving back to the community or doing undergraduate research.

“It’s the whole package. It makes me the person that I am.”

Both Meissner and Mazzaferro said Auburn afforded them opportunities they couldn’t find anywhere else.

And their hard work has been rewarded.

“I really trusted in Auburn’s academics,” said Meissner, a native of Ashburnham, Mass. “A lot of people doubted my decision to come to Auburn.
Coming out of my experience here has really confirmed my decision to come to Auburn, and made me feel very confident walking away with an Auburn degree.”
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