The Klein College of Media and Communication is home to more than 40 student-athletes across a variety of varsity teams, including both Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Soccer and Tennis; as well as Football, Men’s Golf, Women’s Rowing, Women’s Gymnastics, Women’s Lacrosse, Women’s Fencing, Women’s Field Hockey and Women’s Volleyball. Klein student-athletes are dedicated to hard work in their classrooms, professional lives and athletic teams. 

Meet two exceptional student-athletes from the Women’s Rowing team, Eve Keesecker and Nina Crandell. Keesecker and Crandell were both recipients of the 2025 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete Award 

Eve Keesecker 

Eve Keesecker is a coxswain and captain on the Women’s Rowing team from Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a senior studying both journalism and English. Originally coming to Temple as just an English major, she elected to take up journalism as another field of study.  

Keesecker shared that she saw firsthand the significance of journalism when the “Unite the Right” rally and counter-protests struck Charlottesville. 

“That was my first time really interacting with journalism in a broader sense, just learning through the radio or reading the newspaper because Charlottesville—all of a sudden—was on CNN and the national news,” she shared. 

The events and national news coverage that followed influenced her decision to take up journalism as a study, and she has continued to develop her storytelling skills. She is a staff writer for the Templar Yearbook and hosts a Friday night music radio station with WHIP Radio. She also serves on the executive board for the Lunar Journal, Temple’s intersectional feminist magazine. 

As early as her freshman year at Temple, Keesecker joined the Women’s Rowing team after an interest meeting she learned about at Temple Fest. A natural athlete who excelled in field hockey, track and tennis during high school, she felt ready for a new athletic challenge to take on, and she has been successful in making the team part of her personal community.  

“Rowing gave me a community of women who are working so hard, have great work ethics and they’re fun and smart. What’s not to love?” she said.  

To stay on top of her work and practice schedule, she shared that she looks over her syllabi at the beginning of each semester and enters big deadlines and exam dates, as well as blocking out time to attend office hours.  

“I’m focused on my schedule and planning, making sure that I have all my bases covered because I don’t enjoy being a step behind,” she said. 

Outside of athletics and academics, Keesecker has taken on prestigious professional opportunities, too. This past summer, she served as a Communications and Research Fellow at the Office of Virginia House of Delegates Representative Amy Laufer, who represents the 55th District to the House of Delegates.  

“I learned so much, and it really gave me a lot of perspective and made me more interested in politics,” she shared. 

She traveled around the county attending events for residents or prominent Virginia-based companies. Her research projects included studying AI’s intersection in education, its safety implications and implications on critical thinking for students—how they can use it as a tool rather than a replacement for hard work. 

As for her life post-grad, Keesecker hopes to go to law school one day, but immediately after graduation, she is open to various jobs in journalism, communications and publishing. 

Nina Crandell 

Nina Crandell is a junior on the Women’s Rowing team, studying communication studies. She presented her research, Sex in the Media, on how female sexuality is portrayed and its connection to classical literature at the 2025 Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creativity and studied at Temple’s Rome Campus during the summer. She serves as president of Student-Athlete Safe Space, a student organization dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment within Temple Athletics for LGBTQ+ students and allies. 

Crandell, from West Chester, Pennsylvania, was unsure what field she wanted to pursue academically when leaving high school, which led her to communication studies on the entrepreneurship track. She resonated with the major’s versatility, describing it as a “jack of all trades” that would allow her to explore different areas of media and communication. 

“I love Klein,” she shared. “The programs here, the opportunities and connections are all so amazing. There are so many wonderful opportunities and so many amazing professors.” 

Crandell rowed throughout high school, so her joining the Temple Women’s Rowing team was a natural fit. She has carried her tenacious work ethic into her undergraduate years, balancing athletics, academics and her extracurricular involvements. Crandell’s schedule is no easy undertaking, with her rowing practice sessions in the morning and evening totaling 20 hours per week. For her, this disciplined schedule—as rigorous as it may be—is actually her superpower.  

“I love how crew makes me very goal-oriented,” she said. “It’s really supported my education and made me into the student I am today. With the coaches and support staff, you’re constantly being elevated to new heights.” 

Beyond her time on the crew team, Crandell has made an effort to make Temple the best it can be for her fellow student-athletes. This year, she is the president of the Student-Athlete Safe Space, a club dedicated to promoting an inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ and ally student-athletes in Temple Athletics. 

The club meets regularly to discuss issues their members face, learn about LGBTQ+ history and plan community involvement opportunities, such as participating in supply drives, that help community members while also making the club more visible and accessible to other students.  

Yet Temple’s Student-Athlete Safe Space has grown into an intercollegiate exchange. They joined the Athlete Ally network that connects like-minded student-athletes from campuses all over the nation. 

“The importance of [the Student-Athlete Safe Space] is to make athletes feel as if they can bring their true selves to Temple and Temple Athletics so that they are able to perform to the best of their ability without being hindered by struggles that they are going through,” she said. “They can eliminate all the outside noise and be true to themselves.” 

After graduation, Crandell is exploring possibilities such as attending law school or pursuing a career in advertising. 

To other student-athletes she advises: “There are times when it’s not fun. There are times when the work is hard and you don’t want to do it, but show up, day after day, and you will get better.”