- November 5, 2024
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Flagler Palm Coast senior Olga Nushtayeva is probably most known for her ability to sky high above the net and slam the ball on her opponents. It makes sense, as she’s been one of the Lady Bulldogs’ standout volleyball players the last few seasons.
But away from the hardwood, Nushtayeva is soaring pretty high, too: She has a 4.96 weighted GPA as a student in FPC’s International Baccalaureate program. She’s a member of the Student Advisory Council, Flagler BrainChild (a free, one-on-one tutoring service for students with disabilities) and Future Problem Solvers.
Oh, and she has racked up more than 500 community service hours — actually 576 hours, but who’s counting?
All of this made it a no-brainer for Nushtayeva to be selected as the Rotary Club’s Senior Scholar Athlete of the Month for September.
“Getting community service hours, studying IB and playing volleyball is very difficult, but it’s doable,” Nushtayeva said Wednesday, before FPC’s game against Matanzas. “It feels great because when I was a freshman, I saw all these IB seniors and volleyball seniors getting recognized, and I just wanted to be like that.”
September has been a good month for FPC's star. Nushtayeva also verbally committed to play volleyball at Jacksonville University, an NCAA Division I program that, as of Wednesday night, was undefeated this season.
Nushtayeva is expected to sign her letter of intent in November.
FPC coach Shakirah Cousins said Nushtayeva’s ability to be coached is what makes her a special player.
“She doesn’t know 'can’t,'” Cousins said. “And if you tell her or show her she can do something, she’ll go above that. She has a lot to learn still, but I think she’s going to a great program to be able to improve.”
Nushtayeva actually only began playing volleyball about five years ago. And it wasn’t until last season — the season Cousins took over FPC’s program — that Nushtayeva thought she might actually be able to play college volleyball. This time last year, that wasn’t even on her radar.
“Until Coach Cousins introduced me to club and volleyball higher than high school, I wasn’t even considering it,” Nushtayeva said. “This opportunity came up, and it’s the best one I was offered so I was very happy.”
Nushtayeva, who was nominated by her coach for the monthly award, added: “I wanted to be somebody who people looked up to. I wanted people to say, 'I want to be like her, I want to be like that girl.’ I feel very accomplished.”
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