Baker athlete earns college scholarship

BAKER — A Baker student’s athletic talents are helping him further his education.

Gregory Chaitha, a senior soccer player at Baker, signed his letter of intent to play soccer at Northwest Kansas Technical College in Goodland, Kansas.

Chaitha said he was excited about heading to Kansas, and that the experience would be “A little bit different. It’s smaller than this area actually.”

Goodland, a small town near the border with Colorado, has a population of fewer than 5,000. Northwest Kansas Tech has a student population of around 500.

Despite the small size of the school, Chaitha says its soccer program is very good.

“It’s very big,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of freshmen and some of them are from other countries.”

Chaitha’s coach, Mario Tenorio, praised his leadership abilities in what was a tough year for the team.

“He always took the challenge to become one of the leaders. He was one of my captains this last year,” Tenorio said.

The team won only one game last season, but Chaitha said the team had a lot of freshmen and needed time to develop.

“It was long and very much a challenge, but we got over it,” Chaitha said.

Tenorio said Chaitha’s achievement sets an example for other student athletes who may think playing at a smaller school limits their college opportunities.

“It feels, for these kids coming from a smaller school, that there’s a light outside, that there’s an opportunity to go to college and take a scholarship,” Tenorio said. “Hard work and discipline always pay off, no matter what.”

Chaitha hopes to use his scholarship to get an education in smartphone software development and to one day coach soccer at some level.

“It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m up for it,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker athlete earns college scholarship