Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Grit is an essential skill in sports. Creighton University sophomore Henry Dunham would know.
Dunham, a recipient of Creighton’s Grit Scholarship, is a member of the University’s Student Baseball Analytics Team, which utilizes state-of-the-art technology to gather in-depth data for the Bluejay baseball team. The analytics team, recently profiled in Silicon Prairie News, works with Creighton pitching coach Eric Wordekemper to provide suggestions on team strategies and advice for individual players in the hopes of improving performance through data-backed insights.
Dunham, who has yet to decide on a major but is leaning toward business intelligence and analytics along with marketing, jumped at the chance to join the analytics team — now in its second year — when he first heard about it in his freshman economics course. Dunham played three years of high school baseball at Creighton Prep, and he and his family always try to attend Major League games whenever they can. (He’s a Red Sox fan.)
A third-generation Creighton student, Dunham says choosing to attend the University was an easy call. In addition to his family ties, he received Creighton’s Grit Scholarship, created by the Charles and Mary Heider Family Foundation, which assists students who are graduates of Creighton Prep, Duchesne Academy or Mercy High School in Omaha.
Dunham says he’s enjoyed his college experience so far, particularly his time on the baseball analytics team, where he compiles figures such as the Bluejays’ winning percentage based on runs and the swing-and-miss rate for returning pitchers.
His courses, particularly those in statistics and economics, have prepared him well for his role on the analytics team, he says.
“They challenge me to think in different ways,” Dunham says. “And I can use the information I’m learning to look at how baseball is played and think about ways to use this research in the field.”
