Sept. 22, 2009

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Each week, the staff at GoLeopards.com spotlights a student-athlete in a Q&A segment. This week, we caught up with senior men's soccer player Chip Aronica, who filled us in on his academic interests, his thoughts on the season and much more.

What's your major and what do you like about your major? My major is Economics and Business. The concept of investing money in some kind of security and watching it grow, while gaining a return fascinates me. I know it may be selfish to say, but I love making money.

What class are you most looking forward to this semester? The class I am looking forward to most this semester is my Intro to Finance class. I feel like I will be able to apply most of the material learned in class to a future career. It seems to be a class which has a lot of correlation to fields I am looking to work in after graduation.

You're well into the season now. What are your general thoughts on how the team's been playing and what is the atmosphere like around the team right now? Right now the team has something that is unexplainable. I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that my teammates this year feel like my family. I know every game, every practice and even off the field these guys will have my back...and this is tough to beat.

What is your role on the team? My role on the team this year is to lead by example. Not by talking louder than my teammates or giving the halftime speech but by doing the right thing as much as I can and being a good teammate.

What is your earliest soccer memory? My earliest soccer memory was when I won the New York State Championship when I was 10 years old. I had two assists that game and afterwards we got championship jackets that were so big they hung down to all of our shins. It still doesn't fit too well, haha.

Do you model yourself after any particular player? Italian Center Midfielder Genarro Gattuso (a.k.a the snarling dog).

What can you take from your sport and incorporate into everyday life? Perseverance. The idea of achieving your goals no matter how hard the situation may seem can be applied to anything in life in my eyes.

My pregame ritual is... To settle my mind and envision victory.

What does it mean to be a Lafayette Leopard? To be a Lafayette Leopard means to represent my college as best as I can every time I put on my jersey...it's just that simple.

The sport I'm worst at is... Basketball

Who would play you in a movie about yourself? Why? Leonardo DiCaprio because he has similar facial features to me and he is a legend.

TV show I can't stop watching... True Blood.

Song I can't stop listening to... "We Never Change" by Coldplay.

What is the greatest thing you can learn from a loss? Your own team's weaknesses.

What do you still wish to accomplish? The ideal answer would be to win a Patriot League championship, but I really want to take one game at a time and at the end of the season be able to say I gave everything to this team and have no regrets. I think if that is what I work to accomplish, the championship will come.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? I would go to Italy. I hear it is beautiful.

You have an entire day to do whatever you want. Where do you go and what do you do? I would take my family to Florence and rent one of those gondolas to hang out in.

What's been your most interesting out-of-classroom academic experience? This past summer I had an internship with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc in New York City. It was an excellent learning experience. I was able to work with two great financial advisors at one of the most prestigious financial firms in the country. I could not have asked for more.