Emma W. Locke Memorial Award Winner Joe Ciampoli (Successfully) Wrestles Challenge of Being a Student Athlete
What’s 149 pounds, 8-5 on the mat this year, and able to read an ECG with confident precision? The answer would be senior Joe Ciampoli, an Altoona native, wrestler, nursing student and winner of the Emma W. Locke Memorial Award announced at the recent University Honor’s Convocation.
Established in 1946 by Charles A. Locke in memory of his mother, the Emma W. Locke Award is presented annually to a graduating senior in recognition of high scholarship, character, and devotion to the ideals of the University. The student must have at least a 3.85 GPA and plan to continue his or her education after graduation. Ciampoli currently holds a 3.917 cumulative GPA and has achieved a 4.0 semester GPA in five of his seven terms at Pitt.
“Joe is one of our top nursing students,” commented Susan Albrecht, the associate dean of the School of Nursing. “He carries one of the highest GPA’s in his class and his clinical instructors are constantly commending him on his professionalism and critical thinking skills when it comes to providing care to others.”
In high school, Ciampoli was on track to go into electrical engineering and electronics, but didn’t like the math. Engineering was also not a people-directed career choice, and that bothered him. He liked science, however, and during his senior year of high school began volunteering at the Altoona Regional Health System hospital in his native Altoona, PA. His hospital experiences combined with the example of his sister – a nurse - spurred him to apply to nursing schools.
Meanwhile, Ciampoli was recruited for wrestling at Pitt. Ciampoli felt Pitt was more 
willing to help student-athletes succeed than some other schools he considered, although his choice of major made the combination challenging at best. “No nursing student had ever been a wrestler, so no one fully understood what all the complications would be beyond the sheer time demands.”
Coach Rande Stottlemyer and his wrestling staff were supportive and willing to help Ciampoli integrate his training on the mat with his academics. “I kind of counted nursing out for a bit, but I still knew I really wanted to do it. I figured if worse came to worse, I could always quit wrestling and stick with the nursing, if I absolutely couldn’t do both.”
Hard as it has been, and Ciampoli leaves no doubt it is hard, he affirms that it can be done and done in a manner that is ultimately rewarding. “You have to have your mind set about this…You can’t be half-hearted, on the fence, about nursing. It’s time management in the beginning, and then you get used to doing so much that it becomes second nature. You go to practice in the morning because you have to. You just set your alarm clock and get up. You stay up late and study because you have to. If you’re on a bus driving out to Missouri, you bring your earplugs and study.”
The coaches have helped him make it work. “They’re great,” he reports. For example, strength and conditioning coach Kim King works with him on Monday and Wednesday mornings individually, because his Tuesday-Thursday clinicals conflict with the team conditioning schedule.
Combining nursing and athletics has improved Ciampoli’s confidence and his life skills, in particular time management. In addition, he anticipates having an easier time in the “real world” after graduation than many of his athletic peers because of his intense career focus. “Nursing is a curriculum where if you put your time in, you can do really well because you’re going to know the material and know what you’re talking about.” He also knows most student athletes will never move on to the pros. “Nursing for me isn’t something to fall back on, it’s ahead of everything else.”
A good example of Ciampoli’s commitment to his education first and foremost was his participation recently in the first four-week inter-professional Healthteam course offered through the School of Medicine. “The School of Nursing couldn’t have asked for better student representatives than Joe and Amanda Edris [the other SON student in the course],” according to Rosemary Hoffmann, PhD, RN, the course supervisor from SON. Noting the difficulty of the course she says, “Joe is an outstanding young man, and his ability to pull all these facets of his life together is remarkable.”
Ciampoli has been active on a number of committees including the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and Lifeskills coordinator for athletes. “Down the road, I’d like to give back to the profession in any way possible. If I have the opportunity to be a preceptor to nursing students, I could see myself doing that in the future.”
And where does Joe Ciampoli see himself working after graduation? “Probably I’ll go into medical-surgery and critical care nursing, maybe anesthesia.” Whatever he chooses, it’s likely this student-athlete will be a success off the mat as well.
“I definitely want to enter the School of Nursing’s Nursing Anesthesia graduate program after I have experience working in the ICU—I accepted a job working in the cardiothoracic ICU at Altoona Regional Hospital.”