As a Golden Tiger athlete, Kristina Radovic has celebrated all her wins alongside her tennis teammates, including her biggest achievement yet — being named the 2025 Baxter-Bryan Scholar.
Shortly after receiving the news of earning Brenau’s highest academic honor, her teammates and coach paid her a surprise visit to celebrate her victory.
“I’m super grateful,” she said while smiling at her teammates. “I’m used to them always being there for me. Thank you guys so much. It’s an honor to be here.”
Before leaving her home in Belgrade, Serbia three years ago to become a Golden Tiger, Radovic said she looked for universities throughout the US that would allow her to play tennis while also prioritizing her studies. After months of searching, she got a call from one of Brenau’s former tennis coaches.
“When you’re an international student, you’re looking for a home rather than just a university,” Radovic said. “And, it just felt like it was going to be comfortable, nice and supportive. That’s why I decided to come here. It ended up being just how I imagined.”
Radovic said she spent a year adjusting to her new life thousands of miles from home. Speaking English among native speakers proved a challenge for her, as well as making close connections with students. It wasn’t until her sophomore year that she met her best friend, Anita, an international student from Brazil.
“Even though everything was difficult and challenging at the beginning, I knew that this was going to be the place that I wanted to stay because the campus was so intimate and all the professors were so nice and accepting of my English,” she said.
Since finding her stride at Brenau as a finance major, Radovic has seized every opportunity that has come her way, including working as a peer mentor and tutor, joining Brenau’s mediation team and traveling to the National Conference of Undergraduate Research in Long Beach, California to present her research.
Radovic describes her time at the conference as “one of the most rewarding experiences.” Alongside her economics professor, Fassil Fanta, she gave a presentation on their project, “Estimating the Price and Income Elasticities of Domestic Passenger Travel Demand for Atlanta Airport.”
Through her experience at the conference, Radovic said she learned about the power of connecting with people in her field and that she “shouldn’t be scared when it comes to presenting.” She encourages other Brenau students to share their research in front of others, no matter how daunting it seems.
“I went there and was like, ‘Oh my God, there are so many people who are better than me,’” Radovic recounted. “But, when I started presenting, I saw everyone had their own strengths, and everybody worked hard to be there. We are all relevant.”
When Radovic graduates in 2026, she intends to either stay in the US to work in finance or bring her knowledge and experience back home to Belgrade. Her dream career is to become a financial advisor.
If she could give advice to her former first-year self, Radovic said she would assure herself that “it’s OK to struggle in the beginning.”
“Mostly, I would tell myself to be easy on myself,” she said. “Do as much as you can, use every opportunity that comes your way. Even if you are scared of things, find a few people that can be your family away from home.”
