Q&A with MIT Student Leader: Dilin Meloni, Men's Soccer Captain

As a Massachusetts Boys Soccer Player of the Year and an All-American in high school, Dilin Meloni had choices when it came to college. He came to MIT because he knew he wanted to be an Engineer (on the field) and an engineer (off) after he read a paper from the Plasma Science and Fusion Center as a junior at Needham High School.

Q: How does being an athlete affect your experience at MIT? A: MIT has a huge social experience people don’t really understand from the outside. A lot of it is driven by our athletic communities.

Q: Are these two parts of your life — athletic and academic — separate, or integrated? A: Maybe it’s because of my major and what I’m interested in, but I just don’t find a lot of overlap. I’m a Course 22 and Course 8 double-major, and you don’t find a ton of varsity athletes in nuclear engineering or physics, unfortunately.

Q: Describe the Student Athletics Advisory Committee (SAAC). How do you represent the needs of all 33 varsity sports? A: Thirty-three teams is a lot of teams. … Last summer we reached out to all the coaches and athletes before the preseason to ask for their ideas.

Blogger's Review: The story of Dilin Meloni is an inspiration to all student athletes, showing that with hard work and dedication, anyone can achieve success in their field. MIT student athletes are not only excelling on the field but also in academics and social aspects.