{"id":122,"date":"2016-06-10T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=122"},"modified":"2024-04-02T15:16:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T22:16:02","slug":"ruth-hamblin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/ruth-hamblin\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s basketball star player, top engineering student utilizes OSU Ecampus to get ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Ruth<\/div>\n

A star women\u2019s basketball player, rocket scientist, top engineering student and now OSU alumna, Ruth Hamblin says OSU Ecampus courses were key in helping her graduate early so she could play in the WNBA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By Heather Turner<\/a><\/em> \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/a>
\nJune 10, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

She was a star OSU women\u2019s basketball player recently drafted to the WNBA, a member of OSU\u2019s rocketry team and graduated at the top of her mechanical engineering class.<\/p>\n

So how did Ruth Hamblin do it all? Excellent time management skills, a strong dedication to giving it her all, a wealth of support and a desire to be her best.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudying mechanical engineering while playing basketball has been one of the greatest challenges I\u2019ve faced to date,\u201d Ruth says. \u201cI\u2019d spend a lot of late evenings studying and doing my homework because there was no time during the day. It\u2019s a grueling process, but all the hard work is worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her time demands between practices, workout sessions, traveling for games and completing a rigorous degree program, Ruth had another goal in mind: She wanted to play professional basketball.<\/p>\n

The challenge: The WNBA season starts in May, but Oregon State\u2019s school year doesn\u2019t end until June.<\/p>\n

Her solution: Follow a strict academic schedule and take Oregon State Ecampus classes online to get ahead in her studies and graduate early.<\/p>\n

“<\/span>Ecampus courses let me manage my time and gave me more control.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI took one Ecampus course every quarter, and that Ecampus course really helped a lot to reduce the amount of time you have to be in class,\u201d she says. \u201cSince we\u2019re on the road so much, that was my dedicated time to work on my Ecampus class.\u201d<\/p>\n

She originally discovered Ecampus through her athletic academic counselor who suggested online courses as a way to manage her time demands.
\n<\/p>\n

\n
\"Ruth \"Play\" <\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

It takes a lot of time management skills, dedication, support and desire to accomplish all that Ruth Hamblin has during her time at Oregon State. Watch this video to hear from Ruth how OSU Ecampus courses helped her stay on top of her studies \u2013 and get ahead \u2013 while juggling playing basketball, studying engineering and building rockets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe main reason I recommend Ecampus courses to student athletes is because of how busy their schedule is and the amount of time they spend away from campus and the classroom,\u201d says athletic academic counselor Paul Yager, who works with the women\u2019s basketball and football teams. \u201cThere is such a variety of courses offered online that it makes it very convenient for them to access the course material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with the encouragement of her head basketball coach, Ruth \u2013 and many of her teammates \u2013 jumped right in, taking full advantage of the online offerings.<\/p>\n

\u201cEcampus courses are extremely valuable for our program. They\u2019re vital,\u201d says OSU Women\u2019s Basketball Head Coach Scott Rueck. \u201cIt allows them to stay on track with their majors, allows them to accomplish their goals \u2013 on and off the court \u2013 and allows them to be the true student-athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Ruth says she enjoys most about Ecampus is the flexibility, which allowed her to adapt her academic schedule around her athletic schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cEcampus courses let me manage my time and gave me more control,\u201d she says. \u201cI could watch the lecture slides when I wanted and go through them when it was convenient for me instead of having to miss class and get class notes from my classmates who were there while I was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

She points out that although she was able to take the courses at her own pace, it was a challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost exactly the same as taking an in-class course, and the engagement level is almost higher in some regards because everyone has to participate,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Ruth took mainly baccalaureate courses online as well as a few prerequisites for mechanical engineering, including calculus and engineering management.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely different learning engineering concepts online, but once I adapted to it, it came a lot more naturally,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

“<\/span>Just getting to apply all of the knowledge you\u2019ve learned over the past four years and actually build something is really satisfying.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And a natural she was. She not only excelled in her studies, but she was also a member of Oregon State\u2019s AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) Rocketry Team<\/a> that competed in the ESRA Student Rocketry competition for her engineering capstone project.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Ruth<\/div>\n

Ruth and fellow classmates built a sounding rocket as part of the OSU AIAA Rocketry Team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe built a sounding rocket that\u2019s about eight feet tall and goes to about 23,000 feet,\u201d she says. \u201cJust getting to apply all of the knowledge you\u2019ve learned over the past four years and actually build something is really satisfying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRuth Hamblin is a rocket scientist,\u201d coach Rueck says. \u201cHow many coaches get to say that they coached a rocket scientist? I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a way to be more proud of what Ruth has accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruth\u2019s academic successes didn\u2019t go unnoticed. She was honored by the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering<\/a> (MIME) in OSU\u2019s College of Engineering<\/a> as an \u201cOutstanding Senior\u201d during the MIME Pro-School Winter Awards Banquet, an annual tribute to excellence in teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

While she\u2019s proven herself as an elite student, many know Ruth as \u201cThe Canadian Hammer,\u201d a title she wears proudly on the court as she represents her home country, sporting dozens of athletic \u2013 and academic \u2013 titles.<\/p>\n

This year she was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, All-Pac-12, Academic All-American, All-Pac-12 Tournament Team, AP All-America Honorable Mention, Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year and Elite 90 Award (best GPA among players at Final Four), to name a few.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all very, very proud of Ruth,\u201d coach Rueck says. \u201cNot only is she a great student, not only is she a great basketball player, she\u2019s a great person, she\u2019s a great role model to everyone. She\u2019s a great representation of Oregon State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting back on her team\u2019s accomplishments over the past four years, Ruth says her proudest moment was helping lead the OSU women\u2019s basketball team to their first-ever trip to the NCAA Final Four.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to the Final Four with my team, especially during my senior year, was such an amazing experience to reach that pinnacle moment we\u2019ve all been working so hard for,\u201d she says. \u201cThe support we receive from Beaver Nation is something that\u2019s really special and makes this program what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her athletic prowess is already being taking to the next level, as she\u2019s played her first few games with the Dallas Wings in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d she says. \u201cI made the final 12-person roster and have been doing well. I\u2019m getting better every day and I love my team, so life is good. It\u2019s physical and fast in the WNBA and everyone is so smart, too, that they read you so well, but I\u2019m adapting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruth hopes to represent the Canadian national team this year at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro \u2013 where she currently is an alternate for the team \u2013 or in Tokyo in 2020.<\/p>\n

While her current focus is on basketball, she\u2019s still shooting for the stars when it comes to her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I retire from basketball, I hope to enter the aerospace industry somehow and definitely want to be in the rocketry field,\u201d she says. \u201cI love space and exploration and am really fascinated by that, so I will probably go back and get my master\u2019s degree and then hopefully work for NASA or JPL.\u201d<\/p>\n

However the stars will align for Ruth, she says she will always remember her home away from home: Oregon State.<\/p>\n

\u201cOregon State has been so instrumental,\u201d she says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be here if it wasn\u2019t for them. The way that they brought me in, believed in me the whole way, it\u2019s been so cool to be part of this family, to grow and have this place where I can be myself but still be challenged every day and grow into who I am as a person, as a student and as a basketball player.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 6<\/span> minute read<\/span><\/span>\u201cI took one Ecampus course every quarter, and that Ecampus course really helped a lot to reduce the amount of time you have to be in class,\u201d says Ruth Hamblin. \u201cSince we\u2019re on the road so much, that was my dedicated time to work on my Ecampus class.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[673],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-engineering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Ruth-Hamblin.jpeg?fit=5633%2C3781&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-1Y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":396,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/student-athletes\/","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":0},"title":"Student-athletes choose OSU Ecampus online classes to help manage busy schedules","author":"Heather Doherty","date":"January 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In the 2015-16 academic year, more than 480 OSU student-athletes across all sports \u2013 over 80 percent \u2013 took at least one OSU Ecampus online class to supplement their on-campus studies.","rel":"","context":"In "Archives"","block_context":{"text":"Archives","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/archives\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sydney Weise does homework on a black laptop and uses earbuds. 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