Since coming to LSU in 2002, Seimone Augustus has not eluded the limelight.
The senior guard from Baton Rouge holds 16 personal honors ranging from 2005 consensus National Player of the Year to 2003 Louisiana Freshman of the Year. She even made the cover of Sports Illustrated while still in high school.
While moving her way up almost every imaginable LSU women’s basketball record chart, Augustus’ accomplishments in the classroom have not fallen short of making history.
After completing 15 hours last fall, Augustus is only three hours shy of earning a second degree in business.
Augustus graduated in August with a general studies degree. Her three concentration fields for her degree were design, sociology and African-American studies.
“I can’t remember the last time someone in women’s basketball graduated with two degrees,” said Tommy Powell, academic adviser for women’s basketball.
Augustus is scheduled to complete the remaining three hours needed for her business degree this summer after scheduling conflicts with prerequisites and other logistical problems prevented her from earning her second degree this spring.
Powell said it is impressive Augustus took only three years to earn her first degree, and she did not attend any summer classes like most of the team. Augustus played two summers for the USA basketball team.
“My goal was to finish school in three years, not so much to get a double major, just so I could finish and enjoy my senior year,” said Augustus.
With the WNBA draft scheduled for this April, Augustus said a degree in business makes sense because she will need to be business-savvy when dealing with companies.
“I’m possibly going to be in a position where I’m going to have to market myself and try to sell myself to different companies where I can increase my profits,” Augustus said.
Augustus and her peers point to her parents as her motivation for success on and off the court.
“My parents’ motto is academics first and basketball second, and that’s kind of what I live by,” Augustus said. “I went through school for the longest making straight A’s until I got to college.”
Senior guard Scholanda Hoston said she has seen Augustus’ parents influence on their daughter first-hand.
“I was visiting with [Augustus and her family] the other day, and I took some homework with me,” Hoston said. “We were having a little get-together, and I was kind of watching TV and not really paying attention, and [Augustus’ father] was like ‘You’re doing your homework? Are you done yet?’ And I’m not even his child.”
Coach Pokey Chatman said Augustus’ academic drive is in line with her attitude to always make the most of an opportunity.
“You talk about a double major. It’s just that she finished so fast and her mentality is; ‘Well, hey, I can get [a degree] in three years, let me try to get a second one,'” Chatman said. “It boils down to Seimone’s mindset of making the most of an opportunity.”
Augustus was not a stranger to academic success when she began college. She graduated from Capitol High School in 2002 ranked sixth academically out of her class of 214. She finished high school with a 3.71 grade-point average while enrolled in accelerated courses.
Augustus said she was popular in high school but had some habits that are usually not correlated with athletes.
“I surrounded myself with a lot of my teammates, but at the same time I was around a lot of positive people, as people would say, ‘like nerds,’ and we had study groups,” Augustus said. “When you look at an athlete, a lot of people don’t think you’re doing studying groups or doing your work good. They think other people are doing it for you, and it was kind of surprising to a lot of people that I actually got after [my schoolwork] as much as I did.”
Augustus said if she did not plan on a career in professional basketball, she would continue pursuing the business world.
“If I wasn’t playing basketball, I would probably be an entrepreneur trying to get out into the business world,” Augustus said. “Own businesses or real estate – basically anything I can buy and make a profit off of.”
Augustus said she knows her academic success will always come back to her ability to play basketball.
“Basketball has paved the way for me as far as academics,” Augustus said. “I can’t come out here and play basketball if I don’t have the grades in the classroom.”
The No. 3 LSU women’s basketball team will take their 20-game Southeastern Conference winning streak on the road to Fayetteville, Ark., tonight at 7 p.m.
 
Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]