MOSCOW, Idaho – Faith Dilmore and T.J. Patterson have been named this week's Vandals of the Week. Both enjoyed tremendous spring semesters and are off to great starts this fall as well.
 
Dilmore enters her fourth year with the Vandals in 2020-21. A marketing major with a graphic design minor, Dilmore is also involved with the entrepreneurship program at the U of I. Patterson is in his second year with the Silver and Gold and is now studying operations management with a minor in business analytics.
 
Both had their spring seasons cut short in 2020 but found ways to channel that energy into their work in the classroom, resulting in perfect 4.0 grade-point averages for each.
 
"This is something that was very unexpected, but it feels good to be recognized," said Dilmore. "My coaches are always instilling character, athletics and academics. We always say that we are students first and athletes second, so it feels good for that to be recognized. We do put in just as much, if not more work, in the classroom."
 
"I knew that to be successful, especially with our schedule kind of stacking up at the end of the year, it was going to pay pretty big dividends to get ahead early," Patterson said. "So that was my mentality. I was able to set myself up pretty well. If you look at my grades throughout the semester they were probably at their best right when this whole thing happened."
 
Things changed midway through the spring, sending all students home. Dilmore and Patterson faced the same struggles as their student peers, but found ways to be successful.
 
"Once I got home and was doing everything on Zoom, it was tough," said Patterson. "It felt almost like summer had started. I just had to tell myself to get up, get on Zoom and just get it done."
 
"My favorite class from last semester was Doug Albertson's Consumer Behavior," Dilmore said. "I really enjoyed learning about the reasons why we buy and how we shop, and implementing that into things that I'm working toward in the future. For the first time it's felt like I'm really able to implement the course work into what I'm doing now. And to see that progress into professional development is really exciting. Plus I really enjoy how he delivers the content, it's always very entertaining."
 
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