Junior Sydney Shafer earned a spot on the Varsity basketball team during her freshmen year. Since then, she has been working hard on and off the court. She has been playing basketball competitive since the third grade.

Shafer has two older siblings, Erin Shafer and brother Ryan Shafer. Sydney’s sister always was in the gym and that is where she started out and got inspired.

“I feel that Syd’s siblings have inspired her the most,” said Sydney’s father Doug Shafer.

She is an all-season athlete, who is a part of the golf team, basketball team, and track team.

Sydney has been recruited by three different colleges, Wayne State University (WSU), Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and Western Michigan University (WMU). As part of their offer, all three of the universities offered her full ride scholarships.

Doug Shafer joins Sydney on these visits to help her, one day, make a decision.

The first college that recruited Sydney was WMU. She was recruited last year in the spring. So far, WMU is the only Division I college to offer Sydney.

Over the summer, she took a tour at GVSU; however, she did not expect the offer she received at the end of the day.
GVSU is a part of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

“It feels like your hard work is getting paid off, but at the same time, I realized that I have to keep working,” said Sydney.

GLIAC is a competitive collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division II. The states involved are Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

“I didn’t expect them to make an offer for me, when it came to Grand Valley State. I wasn’t sure because they’re in the GLIAC, and the GLIAC is pretty good,” said Sydney.

WSU was her most recent offer. She went on a college tour and experienced the Detroit area surrounding the university over the summer.

With all these options, Sydney is still deciding on which college to attend, or what college might still be our there.