Former President Dr. Tomas Morales (center-left) and current President Dr. William Fritz (center-right) collect with scholar-athletes that were honored in the spring of 2012.

In cooperation with National Student-Athlete Day this coming April and the National Consortium of Academics in Sport, College of Staten Island Athletic Director Vernon Mummert, together with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, has awarded 87 citations of academic excellence by way of CSI’s SAAC/AD Honor Roll. Instituted in 2011, the SAAC/AD Honor Roll awards those student-athletes who boasted a 3.0 GPA or better during the academic semester. The 87 awards this fall were just short of CSI’s best total ever of 89 this past spring semester, but continues to hold the bar high, representing over 40% of the overall student-athlete body achieving academic excellence.

The Honor Roll, unique to the Athletics program at CSI was the brainchild of the CSI Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and CSI Athletic Director Vernon Mummert, who both wanted to draw attention to the tremendous academic achievements of its student-athletes at the exclusive commuter campus.

The 87 total athletes are a cross section of CSI’s 13 intercollegiate sports and cheerleading program. The 40%+ total of scholar-athletes is staggering, but perhaps what is more impressive are some of the other numbers that speak to the academic integrity of the entire division. Of the 87 total student-athletes honored, 24 boast a GPA superior to 3.50. Ten of CSI’s 14 total squads have a team GPA of 3.0 or better, with Men’s Tennis and Women’s Swimming leading the way, both with over a 3.2 team GPA. A pair of students, Ilona Stoyko and Daniel Ursomanno of the tennis squads, both juniors, boasted perfect 4.0 GPA’s.

College of Staten Island Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Services Katie Arcuri coordinates the Honor Roll each year, and is a major player in the students’ path to academic excellence, often lending counsel to student-athletes and assisting with priority registration, which allows CSI athletes to manage their class schedule with their rigorous practice, personal workout, and intercollegiate schedule routines. Along the way, the office solicits mid-semester checks on student-athletes to insure satisfactory progress.

“I think it is important that we continue to showcase these deserving young men and women,” said Arcuri. “Many people don’t understand the rigors of balancing academics with what these students do in their competitive arenas. With all fourteen of our teams in action in some capacity during the fall semester, these numbers are even more striking.”

Of course, a little competition between teams doesn’t hurt either. Each year, CSI awards its finest scholar-athlete and also awards a Team GPA Award at its annual awards banquet. The CUNYAC also honors scholar-athletes of the year at their annual dinner each spring. Women’s Soccer currently boasts the most honorees on the Honor Roll with 13 members. Men’s Baseball and Women’s Basketball follows with 9 honorees, followed by Women’s Softball with eight.

The complete list of scholar-athletes is available here.

Sponsored by the National Consortium for Academics in Sports (NCAS), National Student-Athlete Day is celebrated nation-wide, commending scholastic achievement by student-athletes. CSI student-athletes will be awarded commemorative certificates honoring their achievement at CSI’s Annual Awards Banquet on May 17.