Department Honors Top Academic Athletes at Annual Celebration

In its 11th year celebrating academic and athletic achievement on Reading Day, the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Athletics welcomed faculty and staff to the annual Student-Athlete Academic Achievement Celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The event honored 36 of the highest-achieving juniors and seniors across all colleges and athletics teams.

This year’s honorees carry a cumulative average grade-point average of 3.86 and 13 hold a perfect 4.0. The student-athletes honored were joined by their professors and academic advisers.

Senior Associate Director of Athletics Kim Kelly(opens in new window) welcomed the guests and spoke briefly about Carnegie Mellon being a place where ideas come to life and everyone has the opportunity to dream big.

Kelly asked attendees to bring their attention to a recorded message from Director of Athletics Josh Centor(opens in new window), who missed the celebration due to traveling to Las Vegas to celebrate the academic and athletic excellence of football All-American Robert Coury(opens in new window) at the National Football Foundation Dinner on Tuesday night.

Centor shared his excitement about the event and his pride for the group in the room.

“This event is a reminder of what we value most in our athletics program,” Centor said. “We celebrate not just wins on the field, but the drive, determination and excellence that our student-athletes demonstrate in all facets of their lives. You are scholars, athletes, leaders and changemakers, and you represent the very best of what Carnegie Mellon stands for.”

Provost James H. Garrett Jr.(opens in new window)  praised the honorees for their ability to balance an athletics schedule with a rigorous education and a commitment to service to their community.

“You’re here today because you’re academically one of the highest-performing athletes on our campus, and in fact, you’re one of the highest-performing students on our campus,” Garrett said. “I appreciate your hard work and hope you take a moment to realize how truly amazing your accomplishments are.”

Senior women’s soccer athlete Gemma Jefferson and football athlete Garrett Doherty represented the students.

Jefferson recounted her introduction to CMU and thanked the support system of professors, coaches, staff and teammates, and praised all the honorees.

“To all the student-athletes here, and anyone else who needs to hear it, keep moving forward,” Jefferson said. “The grit and determination that brought you here will carry you far. Looking around this room, I see a group of incredible individuals who have achieved so much. Congratulations. We’ve worked hard, we’ve overcome challenges, and we’ve earned this moment.”

Doherty took the opportunity to speak about the “and” culture of Carnegie Mellon and express his gratitude to the professors in the room.

“There is so much opportunity at this institution,” Doherty said. “Each of our colleges is regarded as one of the best in the world, we have limitless opportunities to explore extracurricular interests, we have the beautiful city of Pittsburgh at our fingertips, and our athletics are some of the most competitive amongst our peers.

“The professors here today were invited because you respect our desire to continuously get better,” Doherty added. “Sometimes it can be difficult for us to schedule that extra meeting to get the help we need, but you’ve always welcomed us, you’ve always been flexible, and you’ve always cared just as much as we do about our learning.”

Jefferson is a decision science major with double minors in biomedical engineering and business administration while Doherty is a chemical engineering student.

This year’s honorees include the following student-athletes:

College of Fine Arts

Christian Duckworth – Junior – Men’s Track and Field 

College of Engineering

Todd Achuff – Junior – Men’s Swimming and Diving
Justin Caputo – Junior – Football
Garrett Doherty – Senior – Football
Bennett Grace – Junior –  Football
Alyssa Hoffman – Junior – Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field
Akshay Joshi – Junior – Men’s Tennis
Catherine Or – Senior – Women’s Basketball
Eliana Szabo – Junior – Women’s Swimming and Diving
Jolie Wasserman – Junior – Women’s Track and Field
Bennett Wong – Junior – Men’s Track and Field
David Zoota – Junior – Men’s Swimming and Diving

Dietrich College

Ava Arias – Junior – Women’s Basketball
Gemma Jefferson – Senior – Women’s Soccer
Ryan Podnar – Junior – Men’s Cross Country and Track and Field
Casey Potrebic – Senior – Men’s Track and Field 

Information Systems

Zoe Angell – Senior – Women’s Tennis
Matthew Cadena – Junior – Men’s Soccer
Ben Condemi – Senior – Football
Jonathan Lindstrom – Senior – Men’s Swimming and Diving
Savannah Xu – Junior – Women’s Swimming and Diving
Kaylin Yeoh – Senior – Women’s Golf 

Mellon College of Science

Nathan Deyak – Senior – Men’s Track and Field
Emma Kulbida – Senior – Women’s Swimming and Diving
Jeremy Ocloo – Junior – Men’s Track and Field
Grace Starr – Junior – Women’s Soccer 

School of Computer Science

Eamon Brady – Senior – Men’s Cross Country and Track and Field
Max Kulbida – Junior – Men’s Swimming and Diving
Abbey Reese – Senior – Softball

Tepper School of Business

Caleb Brobst – Senior – Football
William Burger – Junior – Men’s Soccer
Buckley DeJardin – Junior – Men’s Basketball
Libby Eichberger – Senior – Softball
Elizabeth Schlemmer – Junior – Volleyball
Connor Thompson – Junior – Football
David Zhang – Junior – Men’s Golf