Blue Devil scholar-athletes honored for academic achievements

UW-Stout Scholar-Athlete Program

MENOMONIE (March 29, 2017) - Twenty-one UW-Stout senior scholar-athletes were honored Wednesday in an awards ceremony that also recognized 129 underclass scholar-athletes at the Memorial Student Center.

Seniors Brett Ahsenmacher (Annandale, Minn), Heather Bol (Baldwin), Michelle Brandt (Wausau), Sydnee Braun (Neenah), McKayla Brunner (Elmwood), Mariah Diercks (Ellsworth), Jack Eitel (Plymouth, Minn), Cassie Flackey (Durand), Derek Graves (Mora, Minn), Morgan Gromowski (Watertown), Katie Hackl (Suamico), Mark Hatcher (Highlands Ranch, Colo), Kelly Huseman (Tampa, Fla), Kate Johnson (Big Lake, Minn), Olivia Jung (Andover, Minn), John Lahti (Turtle Lake), Anna Lano (Chaska, Minn), Lydia Meier (Middleton), Shelly Olson (Eau Claire), Josh Robinson (Lakeville, Minn) and David Rosenlund (Oconto Falls) were honored and received a specially designed medallion to be worn during graduation ceremonies.

The UW-Stout Scholar Athlete Award is given to student-athletes with a cumulative 3.50 grade point average in the semester preceding their final season of eligibility.

This is the sixth year of the UW-Stout Scholar-Athlete program, which was instituted and still conducted by UW-Stout Athletic Faculty Representatives Jo Hopp and Brian Finder in 2012.  The program has grown from 18 senior scholar-athletes and 76 underclassmen during the first year of the program to this year's 21 senior scholar-athletes and 129 underclassmen.

Participating in the ceremony were Chancellor Bob Meyer; Patrick Guilfoile, provost; Phillip Lyons, vice-chancellor of Administrative and Student Life Services; and  Duey Naatz , director of athletics.
 
At the end of the 2016 spring semester, more than 285 UW-Stout student-athletes had achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or more and the cumulative grade point average of Stout student-athletes was the highest on record, at 3.251, Naatz reported.

The student-athlete collective GPA has risen every year since 2009, when the GPA was a 2.90.  A total of 156 student-athletes have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher.

Each senior student-athlete invited an academic faculty or staff member to award ceremony who has had a significant impact on their time at UW-Stout, Guilfoile reported.

Lyons mentioned that in the UW-Stout athletic department annual report the No. 1 goal of the department is to improve the student-athlete experience, and this ceremony is part of that experience.

The medallion presented to each of the senior Scholar-Athletes was designed by former Blue Devil student-athletes Kate Mikutowski and Zak Snell. In addition, a large action poster of each senior Scholar-Athlete will be displayed in the Sports and Fitness Center during the upcoming year.

The Scholar Athlete Award program is supported by the offices of the Chancellor; Academic and Student Affairs; and Administrative and Student Life Services.


UW-Stout Recognized Student-Athletes    
Caleb Adams 
Brett Ahsenmacher*  
Jared Allen     
Marie Allo       
Sam Bach 
Sierra Beaver 
Heather Beecher       
Brady Beier    
Aryn Benn      
Andrea Bertram         
Heather Bol*  
Cyan Bower   
Michelle Brandt*        
Sydnee Braun*          
Anna Brown   
McKayla Brunner*     
Emma Bullard
Brandyn Christman    
Europa Christoffel      
Ryan Connor 
Sierra Coonts 
Nicole DeGrave         
Sarah Dickmann        
Kyncaide Diedrich     
Mariah Diercks*         
Bailey Diersen
Dylan Drone   
Jessica DuVal
Lucas Eide     
Jack Eitel*      
Tyler Ellefson 
Isaac Elliott     
Kelli Elmer      
Katherine Enderby     
Camille Fawcett         
Carolyn Feddema      
Brianna Ferguson      
Becky Fesenmaier
Alexa Filipiak  
Cassie Flackey*  
Kaylee Francois         
Sophia Gibbs 
Derek Graves*           
Morgan Gromowski* 
Katie Hackl*         
Rachel Hasting          
Mark Hatcher*           
Kolton Hebbring         
Jack Hemsath           
Bethany Hennen        
Rachel Hernandez     
Trey Hewuse 
Rachel Horn   
Jake Houghton          
Megan Hultgren         
Kelly Huseman*         
Kenzie Hyde        
Kayla Ignasiak           
Jessica Ingle  
Ashley Jeske 
Kate Johnson*           
Jennifer Johnson       
Olivia Jung*   
Sydney Kasper          
Dillon Keller    
Hannah Kirchner        
Abigail Kirsch 
Andrew Klavekoske   
Trystin Kluess
Jack Kolar      
Ty Kolb           
Kate Koster    
Katie Kreibich        
Adam Kresl    
John Lahti*     
Anna Lano*    
Abby Schrader    
Sylvia Lechnir
Hailey Leclair 
Dana Lemke  
Heidi Lieffort  
Hallie Locher  
Michael Loes  
Molly Loughrin           
Christian Lucchesi     
Adam Mackey           
Mariah Madsen          
Danielle Magnuson*   
Emily Makina 
Ted Mark          
Lydia Meier*   
Alicia Meyer   
Lauren Mickley          
Ellen Miller     
Ryanne Millis 
Bradley Myers           
Jacob Nelson 
Nicole Nelson 
Tyler Odom    
Shelly Olson* 
Sam Ortmann       
Emily Parsons
Bella Pedlar           
Daisy Perez   
Molly Perkins 
Jessica Petruzates     
Stephanie Pladies      
Alexandra Ploeger     
Taylor Poss    
Kate Quade    
Daniel Ressler
Jason Richardson      
Josh Robinson*      
Enzo Rosani   
David Rosenlund       
Etienne Roy   
Troy Rudesill  
Andrew Sabinash       
Annie Sandry 
Courtney  Schmitt      
Riley Schmitt 
Katelyn Schobert       
Sarah Schrom           
Kellyn Schubbe          
Nikki Sedivy 
Rachel Shirk  
Mitchell Simonet        
Kara Simonson          
Kennedy Strain          
JDan Sturgeon        
Sierra Suchla 
Shelby Terhell
Dawson Tusow          
Joe VanGrinsven
Marissa Van Tassel   
Brandon Vecchio       
Matt Vertz      
Kate Voracek 
Kacie Wallace
Sam  Waters         
Shannan Watkins       
Grace Weber 
Christel Weltzin          
Haley Wentz  
Alyssa Wieser
Alyson Wilcox
Aaron Wisecup          
Levi Wolf        
Beth Wood          
Kaitlin Woyak 
  *denotes senior scholar-athlete