When a student-athlete excels in competition, it's easy to note. Check the success of the team, their stats, etc. One can also detect excellence in grade reports with Dean's List and Athletic Director's Honor Roll attainment. Community service is often noticed although many do not publicize such instances preferring to focus on the act rather than the praise.
 
The Chattanooga Mocs athletics mission is "Equipping for Success". As often mentioned, it encompasses not only competition, but the classroom and community as well.
 
Senior golfer Isabella Loza takes it to another level.
 
She is woven deeply into the Mocs fabric. Her family has entrusted two daughters to the program, with both getting it done at a high level in all phases of the student-athlete experience.
 
Isabella has spent the last year as part of an elite group in the College of Business managing the SMILE Fund. In fact, just 25 students earned the opportunity to work with the $250,000 equity fund managed entirely by students.
 
"It's a student-managed investment fund, so the acronym is actually S.M.I.L.E., or Student Investment Learning Experience," Loza shared. "It's an investment made possible by the UC Foundation to manage, and what we are doing with this is investing it in stocks.
 
"The way we are structured is we have one president, four vice presidents and 20 analysts. I am one of the analysts in the energy sector."
 
As a golfer, Loza knows about weighing risks and rewards on the course. How did that measure in the unpredictable energy market?
 
"I guess I've always known that I'm a little bit risk averse," she continued. "I definitely lean towards the safer side and don't like to take that many risks. I did pick a sector that is very volatile with energy, and I guess energy prices are all over the place.
 
"It's been a fun ride through it all of what I like and don't like to do. With the research, I really like the macro-variables and macro-analysis, so I like to know what's going on in the world. I found that I really enjoy it and it's something I'm interested in."
 
Her experience on the course also applies to her business world.
 
"I think golf applies to so many things in life," stated the Colombia native. "It has definitely shown me that nothing can be perfect. You cannot have a perfect golf round. With investments, you have your times where you do your research the right way, and sometimes you make a good call and get a return on your investments, but sometimes you don't.
 
"You just have to stick to the process. What we say in golf is stick to the process, be disciplined and have confidence that you're on the right path. Some of the mental toughness I've had along the way has been through what I learned in golf, and I've had to apply it to investments for the fund."
 
The SMILE Fund is over-seen by Dr. Hunter Holzhauer. He was effusive in his praise of Loza.
 
"Isabella is friendly, curious and engaging, yet also highly intelligent, determined and productive," he shared. "She has excelled at everything UTC has to offer. She has taken on our most challenging classes, internship experiences, research challenges and the SMILE Fund. Each time she has risen to the challenge and somehow surpassed my already high expectations.
 
"I have truly enjoyed watching Isabella grow in her craft and few have leveraged all that UTC has to offer as strategically as Isabella."
 
One thing that stood out to Loza was that the team dynamic in sports is also prevalent in the business world.
 
"It definitely surprised me," she added. "Coming in, I had a few people that I had several classes with, but this was a completely different group where I didn't know them and they didn't know me. We've been working together for almost a year now and as things evolve, there's a lot of team effort.
 
"At the end, we are all working together for one portfolio and one fund. We have the main goal of increasing the investments and making our money grow. We've come pretty close with just trying make sure what we're doing and understanding a common goal, so that we are all working towards it. I think we have really come together as a group."