Thirty-Four Tartans Honored as Top Academic Athletes
Although the traditional fall and winter seasons haven’t been on display for Carnegie Mellon University this year, the excellence of the university’s student-athletes is still impacting the entire community. Each winter for the past six years, the CMU Department of Athletics has celebrated its top academic athletes at the Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Celebration during finals week. While an in-person celebration is on hold for now, the highest-performing junior and senior student-athletes in each undergraduate college and on each team are still being recognized for their academic performance.
“Our talented student-athletes represent the best of CMU by performing at an outstanding level academically, and demonstrating teamwork and leadership through their commitment in the pool or on the field, track or court,” said President Farnam Jahanian. “Despite the disappointment of not being able to play competitively this year, that commitment has been unwavering and I am so proud to recognize and support these students on their achievements.”
The group of 34 outstanding juniors and seniors are being honored for carrying the highest GPAs across each academic college and team. Among them is a cumulative average GPA of 3.88 with 14 holding a perfect 4.0.
“You have excelled in every facet of your Carnegie Mellon experience, and you have made our intercollegiate athletics program excellent with your passion, commitment and work ethic,” said Director of Athletics Josh Centor in communication with the honorees. “You are the model for what intercollegiate athletics ought to be, and demonstrate that anything can be accomplished when you set your mind and heart to it.”
The celebration typically serves as a place for the honored students to invite influential professors or staff members and gather for intimate discussion in a casual atmosphere before university dignitaries express their gratitude and admiration.
“We are proud of our student-athletes’ accomplishments in the classroom, in research and in competition,” said Rebecca W. Doerge, Glen de Vries Dean of the Mellon College of Science. “By participating in sports, students learn leadership, teamwork, discipline and how to balance work and life. These skills are so valuable to our students now and will continue to give them a competitive advantage as they become the leaders of the future.”
This year’s honorees include the following student-athletes:
College of Engineering:
Vivian Beaudoin – Junior – Volleyball
Lindy Cornwall – Junior – Women’s Tennis/Women’s Track and Field
Summer Faille – Junior – Softball/Women’s Basketball
Matt Karee – Senior – Men’s Cross Country/Men’s Track and Field
Joey Krempa – Senior – Men’s Basketball
Maddy Lui – Junior – Women’s Soccer
Umar Nasim – Junior – Men’s Track and Field
Katelyn Parsons – Junior – Women’s Swimming and Diving
Valerie Reiling – Senior – Women’s Track and Field
Nicole Shi – Senior – Women’s Cross Country/Women’s Track and Field
Matthew Sloan – Senior – Men’s Track and Field
College of Fine Arts:
Keegan Barone – Fifth Year Senior – Women’s Track and Field
Nikolas Diamant – Junior – Men’s Track and Field
Dietrich College:
Justin Britton – Senior – Men’s Swimming and Diving
Callan Capitolo – Junior – Men’s Soccer
Megan Christy – Senior – Women’s Swimming and Diving
Joshua Pinckney – Senior – Men’s Tennis
Agnes Zhou – Junior – Women’s Track and Field
Mellon College of Science:
Ray Boppana – Senior – Men’s Tennis
Erik Dehkes – Junior – Football
Stephanie Erickson – Junior – Women’s Swimming and Diving
Will Knauth – Junior – Men’s Golf
Megan Rice – Senior – Women’s Cross Country/Women’s Track and Field
School of Computer Science:
Kellen Gibson – Junior – Women’s Swimming and Diving
Matthew Grange – Senior – Football
Michael OBroin – Junior – Men’s Cross Country/Men’s Track and Field
Chloe Yan – Senior – Women’s Basketball
Tepper School of Business:
Ethan Kalis – Junior – Men’s Soccer
Hale Lieberman – Junior – Men’s Soccer
Jocelyn Mayer – Junior – Women’s Soccer
Charlotte Simpson – Senior – Women’s Golf
Carrie Stewart – Junior – Volleyball
Nadia Susanto – Junior – Women’s Golf
John Tjards – Senior – Men’s Swimming and Diving