Georgia Highlands College (GHC) recently saw 12 student-athletes named National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Academic All-Americans.
To be named an NJCAA Academic All-American, student-athletes must achieve an overall GPA of 3.60.
“Having these student-athletes honored by the NJCAA as Academic All-Americans is a great accomplishment for our athletic programs and says a lot about our staff’s commitment to academics,” Director of Athletics Brandan Harrell said. “It is a reflection of all the hard work that our student athletes put into academics throughout the entire year.”
Harrell said these students’ academic achievements were made in addition to the requirements faced by student-athletes, including game travel, doing homework on the road, practice and working out.
“There is so much that our student athletes face during the course of the academic year, it would be easy for our student athletes to not make good grades,” Harrell said. “But they choose to make academics a priority.”
Harrell described academics as the “lifeblood” of GHC’s athletic program. He said almost all GHC student-athletes come to GHC, either as a freshman or a transfer, looking to transfer to a four-year university to continue their academic and athletic career.
In order to make that happen, Harrell said, not only do student-athletes have to perform on the court or field, they must also perform in the classroom.
“Student athletes must meet the transfer requirements of the universities that are recruiting them,” Harrell said. “Those universities know that GHC provides our student-athletes with a solid academic foundation.”
GHC student-athletes come from all over the country and all over the world, and Harrell said the athletic program strives to recruit student-athletes who are not only talented players, but also good people.
“There are so many great individual stories among our student-athletes,” Harrell said. “I can’t think of anything more rewarding that seeing these young men and women achieve their goals and move on to do great things.”
First Team Academic All-American
ShaoTung Lin, Women’s Basketball
Conner Todaro, Baseball
Haley Overton, Softball
Second Team Academic All-American
Max Luke, Baseball
Patrick Walker, Baseball
Third Team Academic All-American
Alexandra Shishkina, Women’s Basketball
Ben Olson, Baseball
Parker Poteet, Baseball
Hailey Cronic, Softball
Madison Dennis, Softball
Malone Aldridge, Softball
Jordan Brown, Men’s Basketball
