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NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Four Monroe College athletes have earned National Junior College Athletic Association Athlete of Distinction honors for their academic accomplishments.
Women’s soccer player Fatima Ba and softball player Rhema Dutton earned Superior Academic Achievement awards for accumulating a grade point average between 3.80 and 3.99. Baseball player Edvardas Matusevicius and women’s basketball star Aivah Parham both received Exemplary Academic Achievement awards for earning a GPA between 3.6 and 3.79.
"Student athletes have a lot of pressure to perform on the field," said Athletic Director Bert Shillingford. "But they also have a stated responsibility to achieve scholastically. We have many students who take that dual challenge seriously, but these four have risen to the top and we are so proud of them to be recognized in this way."
Parham is the first athlete in Monroe’s history to win two national championships and the first to earn both athletic All-American and Academic honors in the same year. The 5-foot-10 sophomore forward from Baltimore will join teammate Kashay Barnes at Norfolk State University in the fall to play basketball.
Matusevicius earned the first Monroe College Male Scholar-Athlete Award in early June. He graduated with an associate degree in business administration and will play baseball at Grambling State University this fall.
Dutton received the first Monroe College Female Scholar-Athlete Award in June and graduated with an associate degree. The baking and pastry major will continue her academic career at the University of Alaska in Anchorage.
Ba, a sophomore who helped lead the women’s soccer team to the Region XV championship, earned president’s list honors in each of her five semesters at Monroe.
From a report by Monroe College Athletics
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