Student Spotlight - Ben Jones
Name: Ben Jones
Hometown: Decatur, Ala.
Year: Senior
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Auburn University engineering student, Ben Jones, was recently named to the ESPN Academic All-District 4 First Team and All-American Second Team baseball lists. Jones is a senior planning to graduate in August 2009. This past baseball season, he became a starting outfielder, hitting his career-best .294 in 180 at bats in 46 out of 49 games. Despite the time commitment to baseball, Jones has been able to maintain a 3.84 gpa while pursuing his mechanical engineering degree. He is the only position player in the SEC to be named to a district first team.
Jones feels honored to be recognized for his academic achievements. "I did not expect it, but it is good to receive recognition for the work that I put into the classroom," he says.
To keep up with his studies during baseball season and make sure that academics remained a top priority, Jones managed his time very carefully. "I knew up front that time management would be extremely important if I was going to do both baseball and engineering well," he says. "I learned to get a lot of my work done on bus rides to away games. I also did a lot on the one day per week when we didn't have baseball practice."
After graduation Jones will be seeking a job in engineering. His education at Auburn has made him feel prepared to enter the working world. "My engineering education has prepared me to go into a job confident that I will be successful," he says.
Jones was also twice named to the Academic All-SEC team (2007 and 2008), the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 4 First Team (2008) and the ESPN The Magazine second team (2007).
