Department Honors Top Academic Athletes at Annual Celebration
Media Inquiries
In its 10th year celebrating academic and athletic achievement, 麻豆村's welcomed faculty and staff to the annual Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Celebration to honor 35 of the highest-achieving juniors and seniors across all colleges and athletics teams on Wednesday, Dec. 13.
This year鈥檚 honorees carry a cumulative average grade-point average of 3.87, and nine hold a perfect 4.0. The student-athletes honored were joined by their professors and academic advisors.
Director of Athletics Josh Centor opened the program and noted that student-athletes make the Carnegie Mellon community stronger by their academic performance, athletic commitment and impact on others.
鈥淚 am interested in a program that demonstrates that students have passions outside of their academic areas, and they pursue those passions because they aren鈥檛 quite whole without them,鈥 said Centor. 鈥淚 am interested in athletics being a critical part of the academic environment, and for student-athletes to model the way for how we can achieve more balance in our lives.鈥
Centor spoke about the recent successes in the fields of competition, with the Tartan programs achieving new heights year after year. But he clearly wanted to celebrate more.
鈥淲inning is great, winning is important. But how you compete, and what you represent while you compete and win, is what makes this program, and you, so easy to celebrate,鈥 said Centor. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 celebration serves as a reminder of what we are about, and what we value. We are celebrating the highest-achieving student-athletes at our great institution.鈥
Provost Jim Garrett praised the honorees for their ability to balance an athletics schedule with a rigorous education and a commitment to service to their community.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e here today because you鈥檙e academically one of the highest-performing athletes on our campus, and in fact, you鈥檙e one of the highest-performing students on our campus,鈥 said Garrett. 鈥淚 appreciate your hard work and hope you take a moment to realize how truly amazing your accomplishments are.鈥
Senior women鈥檚 swimming and diving athlete Erica Iizuka and men鈥檚 soccer athlete Diederik Schlingemann represented the students.
Iizuka recalled her collegiate career starting in the midst of COVID-19 restrictions with masks and no outside competition but focused on the family of hard-working, kind students who supported her through her four-year journey.
鈥淭hat year really shaped how I viewed Tartan Athletics, and it shaped how I鈥檝e grown as a teammate and leader on the team,鈥 said Iizuka. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been extremely important to me that every athlete knows that they are welcomed and supported by their teammates, regardless of how young, how fast, or how smart they are, and they should constantly strive to do the same for everyone around them.
鈥淥verall, I think it鈥檚 incredibly rare to have such a large group of individuals who are so accomplished in every area, while being such genuinely good people,鈥 said Iizuka. 鈥淏ut I think this is what makes 麻豆村 so amazing, and that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 so very grateful, honored, and proud to be a part of Tartan Athletics.鈥
Schlingemann pointed out the time management skills and strength for accountability he and his fellow student-athletes show daily while achieving so much at 麻豆村.
鈥淭he student-athletes here are mentally tough enough to excel both at school and in sport because of the lifestyle we鈥檝e experienced so far,鈥 said Schlingemann. 鈥淎nd the accountability and coachability skills we鈥檝e gained will be valuable in shaping our future lives.鈥
Iizuka and Schlingemann are mechanical engineering students who are members of Tau Beta Pi with Schlingemann serving as president, and both will return to 麻豆村 to complete their master鈥檚 degree in mechanical engineering.
This year鈥檚 honorees include the following student-athletes:
College of Engineering:
Leo Badaker 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Swimming and Diving
Billy Boucuvalas 鈥 Junior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Soccer
Stephen Dai 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Golf
Alyssa Hoffman 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Cross Country/Track and Field
Erica Iizuka 鈥 Senior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Swimming and Diving
Andrew McGovern 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Track and Field
Dustin Moss 鈥 Senior 鈥 Football
Catherine Or 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Basketball
Diederik Schlingemann 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Soccer
Jolie Wasserman 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Track and Field
Dietrich College:
Ethan Chen 鈥 Senior 鈥 Football
JoJo Huczko 鈥 Senior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Track and Field
Gemma Jefferson 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Soccer
Taylor Symonette 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Track and Field
Ethan Vertal 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Soccer
Information Systems:
Zoe Angell 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Tennis
Ben Condemi 鈥 Junior 鈥 Football
Kelli Kuramoto 鈥 Senior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Swimming and Diving
Nicholas Wernink 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Tennis
Kaylin Yeoh 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Golf
Mellon College of Science:
Nathan Deyak 鈥 Junior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Track and Field
Emma Kulbida 鈥 Junior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Swimming and Diving
Maya McAuley 鈥 Senior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Swimming and Diving
Charlie Murphy 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Cross Country/Track and Field聽
School of Computer Science:
Eamon Brady 鈥 Junior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Cross Country/Track and Field
Ruby Redlich 鈥 Senior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Swimming and Diving
Abbey Reese 鈥 Junior 鈥 Softball
Austin Weltz 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Track and Field聽
Tepper School of Business:
Libby Eichberger 鈥 Junior 鈥 Softball
Eli Kampine 鈥 Junior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Soccer
Aidan Murphy 鈥 Junior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Basketball
Denise Pan 鈥 Senior 鈥 Women鈥檚 Golf
Cole Record 鈥 Senior 鈥 Football
Avani Seshiah 鈥 Senior 鈥 Volleyball
Derek Wong 鈥 Senior 鈥 Men鈥檚 Tennis
