Felipe Juchimiuk Jaworski

This student-athlete left a career with a Fortune 500 company in Argentina to find even greater prospects at Georgia State.

DAYS AFTER FELIPE JUCHIMIUK JAWORSKI tossed his cap in the air as a high school graduate, he walked through the doors of a Fortune 500 company. At 18, the Buenos Aires, Argentina, native was hired as a full-time financial analyst for Accenture, a global management consulting company.

Not long after starting his nine-to-five job, he began his first semester at Universidad de Buenos Aires.

“I was busy that semester,” Felipe said, laughing. “I worked all day and went to class at night. I spent the weekends studying.”

With his days and nights consumed, Felipe had little time to pursue his dream 

of playing tennis collegiately. He ranked as high as No. 13 in Argentina for boys under 18 and had been scouted heavily by tennis programs in the U.S. looking for a southpaw with a big serve.

For Felipe to change gears with a career already underway, the situation had to be just right academically (he posted the highest grade point average in his high school four years in a row) and athletically. Enter Georgia State.

“I knew early on I wanted a career that was driven by analytics, and actuarial science is the perfect combination of math and business,” he said. “And it turns out Georgia State has one of the best actuarial science programs.”

Consistently ranked among the top 20 in the U.S., according to College Choice, the J. Mack Robinson College of Business’ actuarial science program is one of the oldest in the country (dating back to 1958) and has one of the largest research faculties of its kind in the world.

The Panthers tennis team was also coming off a Sun Belt Conference championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

“I felt the connection here immediately,” Felipe said.

It’s a good thing he felt comfortable because he got thrown into action right away. In his first collegiate match, he was called on to play in a crucial situation.

“It was an indoor match, and I had never played indoors before,” he said. “I was on the bench, and I was so nervous I couldn’t stop moving my legs. But somehow, I played really well and ended up winning the match.”

Since, Felipe settled in at Georgia State and has excelled as a student-athlete. He’s been on the President’s List every semester since arriving on campus and joining the Honors College in 2015. He was named to the Sun Belt Commissioner's List in 2016, he's twice been named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association scholar-athlete and is a College Sports Information of America Academic All-American.

“On and off the tennis court he demonstrates what it means to be a successful student-athlete,” said Jonathan Wolff, Georgia State’s head tennis coach. “He has tremendous leadership skills and always maintains a positive attitude.”

This past season, Felipe helped lead the tennis team to a No. 30 ranking, another Sun Belt title and an NCAA Tournament appearance. He opened the season with a No. 18 regional ranking, and led the team with five match-clinching wins.

“It was incredible to win the conference the way we did this past season,” Felipe said. “I consider myself extremely lucky. My teammates are like my brothers, and I’ve been able to travel with them and compete at a very high level all across the U.S. To me, that is amazing.”

It was a big decision four years ago to move 5,000 miles away from family, friends and a big-time job, but it’s one he doesn’t regret.

“Coming here was the best decision I’ve made in my life,” he said. It’s no surprise that, once again, he’s in demand — this time by major American companies. “I can’t talk too much about it,” he said with a wry grin, “but I’m planning on sticking around the U.S."