Sponsored by the National Consortium of Academics and Sports, the College of Staten Island Office of Intercollegiate Athletics held their inaugural ceremony for Student-Athlete Day in the CSI Sports and Recreation Center, honoring its scholar-athletes. The short ceremony honored over 70 CSI scholar-athletes that held a 3.0 GPA or higher.

The scholar-athlete citations were noted with CSI’s first-ever Athletic Director Honor Roll, released last month covering the fall 2010 semester, sponsored by the CSI Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

National Student-Athlete Day is celebrated nation-wide, commending scholastic achievement by student-athletes. Since 1987, the National Consortium of Academics and Sports has been on NCAA campuses to promote the accolades of its finest student-athletes, its scholar-athletes, who take their headstrong discipline and passion for what they do on the field of play and transfer it to the classroom.

After a short introduction, participants were greeted by CSI Athletic Director Vernon Mummert, followed by CSI President Dr. Tomas Morales and Vice President for Student-Affairs, Dr. Ramona Brown. Together, they preached of the importance of CSI’s continued accolades in the classroom, and the commitment of CSI athletes to continue to raise the number. Participants were treated to a full buffet at the conclusion of the ceremony.

“This was a great event to honor the achievements of our scholar-athletes, who together with their peers on the playing field are the most dynamic students on campus,” said Mummert. “Many of our student-athletes balance the rigors of full-time studies along with one and even two full or part-time jobs, family commitments, and of course, their exploits on the field. It’s an honor to commemorate them in this way.”

CSI honored nearly 40% of the student-athlete body, the highest number ever at the college.

Among the honored student-athletes were a foursome of CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honorees, including Nikolay Shevchenko (Men’s Swimming), Gabriella Villarruel (Women’s Swimming/Women’s Tennis), Raechel Strobel (Softball) and Robert Hargraves (Men’s Tennis.

CSI will hold a similar event in the fall of 2011, honoring future members of the AD Honor Roll for the spring 2011 semester.