AUBURN, Ala. – Whether she's in the classroom constructing a rocket or in the gym landing a double pike on her floor routine, Auburn gymnastics senior Samantha Cerio is always on the move, always willing to start something new or stir things up.
"I think the first phrase that comes to mind is 'mover and shaker.'" Cerio said.
But regardless of how rigorous her schedule can get between gymnastics, a major in aerospace engineering and her role as president of the Auburn Student-Athlete Advistory Council, Cerio always finds a way to make it work. Not only that, she finds a way to excel in all three aspects because she wants to make a positive impact on other people.
"Sam stands out because she's a great role model for everyone here on campus," Auburn president Steven Leath said. "She's the perfect Auburn ambassador because she represents hard work, integrity. She represents athletics. She represents academics. She's the total package. Sometimes you forget all that she does because she makes it look so easy."
When it comes to legacy, though, Cerio doesn't just want to be remembered as an All-SEC gymnast. She doesn't want to be defined only by her degree or her work in the classroom either. She's both a student and an athlete, and she wants to change the stereotype of how student-athletes are perceived at Auburn and across the country.
"We're not just people who do sports and that's all that matters to them because it's not," Cerio said. "It's one layer to a multi-layered personality.
"I just want to be able to show people that student-athletes are able to do more things than just look at themselves and focus on their sports. They're able to focus on things like school. They're able to focus on their community and how they treat people and what they do around them and being self-aware that what they do impacts other people."
For Cerio, the gymnastics part of her life is almost over. She's been competing for nearly 19 years now and depending on what happens in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional next weekend, it could potentially be her final meet.
And what a career it's been. At Auburn alone, Cerio has been an All-SEC performer in each of the past two seasons. She was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2016. And this year, she's been the team's top performer on bars and has a chance to make her third straight appearance at the NCAA Championships on the event.
Still, Cerio always knew there was going to be an expiration date for gymnastics.
"My parents have been the most supportive people ever, but they always reminded me that gymnastics won't always be there for you," Cerio said. "Yes, if you're doing it, you want to do your absolute best because there's no reason to put yourself through training for so many hours a week and putting your body through so much stress if you're not going to do it to your best potential.
"But they always reminded me that gymnastics will end eventually, and you need to have something to fall back on, something that you can be passionate about just as equally."
Cerio has found that passion in building rockets.
As part of her aerospace engineering major, the recently awarded SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year is currently in the second semester of a design class called LVD or Launch Vehicle Design where the main project is to construct a rocket. Her group is building a low-earth orbiting rocket that will orbit the earth for seven days and then "splash down" somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
When she graduates in May, Cerio already has a job lined up in Seattle with Boeing where she will be working on rockets as a Structural Design Analysis Engineer.
"As we raise the profile at Auburn, our No. 1 product and the thing we make best is our students and our graduates," Leath said. "There will be a time, like in most student-athletes' lives, that (Cerio) will be recognized mostly as an engineer. People won't know immediately that she was a student-athlete.
"They'll look at her, her abilities, her work ethic, her knowledge of engineering, and associate that with our great university. And our stock will go up. She will help all the students that come behind her because people want to hire more Auburn engineers after engaging with her."
However, if not for gymnastics, Cerio might not have ended up at Auburn. When she verbally committed to head coach Jeff Graba and the Tigers, she was just a freshman in high school. But even then, Auburn just felt right.
"There was something about Auburn that you just can't shake," Cerio said. "It's the people around you. It's the atmosphere. It's comfortable. And not just comfortable, but it's an exciting comfortable where you know that you can make yourself better. You can push yourself to be a better student, a better athlete, a better person."
Auburn isn't necessarily like every other school either when it comes to the academic side. Some schools say you can go there and do whatever you want. At Auburn, they truly mean it. It doesn't matter if you're in aerospace engineering or on the medical path.
"We don't fool them and say it's going to be easy," Graba said. "But that's what our mission is – to put the student at the beginning of student-athlete.
"I think Sam embodies that. It's a good example to the young people that you can do it. It's not going to be easy. You're going to have to be driven, you're going to have to be focused, and there are going to be some sacrifices to be made. But I think our team is better when they look at individuals that are juniors and seniors who are exceeding expectations like that."
Always moving, Cerio continues to pave the way for current and future student-athletes at Auburn.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf