Recognizing Academic Excellence in Athletics
At Bluefield College, student-athletes take seriously the term “student” in “student-athlete.” To them, the “student” comes first and not the other way around. Every athletic team has its own set of student-athletes, and it means a lot when teams are successful not only in athletics, but also in the classroom
Just ask BC Athletic Director Tonia Walker who speaks often of the importance of education to a student-athlete.
“The word ‘student’ comes first,” she said, “and (our) goal is to strengthen academics along with team GPAs.”
In fact, Walker said the Athletic Department will recognize the sports team with the highest grade point average (GPA) at the end of the school year. She said the three teams currently with the highest GPA (in no particular order) are women’s basketball, women’s track, and women’s tennis with GPAs of (again, in no particular order) 3.43, 3.54 and 3.63.
“This past semester a good majority of the teams had a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher,” Walker said about the success of BC student-athletes in the classroom this past fall. She said the key to that success is the ability of student-athletes to balance their academic workload with their commitments to their sport.
“Time management is key,” she said, “knowing how to best utilize your time with practice, meetings, games, travel, and maintain a social life.”
It’s important she said that student-athletes “over-communicate” with coaches and tutors and that they stay on top of their work in the classroom. She also spoke of the value of being proactive and having a schedule.
In addition to improving team grade point averages, Walker said she also wants to see an increase in the graduation rate of BC student-athletes. It’s critical she said to retain and graduate students so that they become great ambassadors for the institution.
The sports team with the highest overall GPA will receive an award and be recognized on April 26 during the Athletic Department’s year-end awards banquet, called the Rammies. An individual award will also be presented to the student-athlete with the highest GPA.