Being a varsity athlete means sacrificing a lot of time to training. It means waking up at 5:30 am on a regular basis to lift weights. It means being away multiple weekends for competition. And it means dragging yourself out of bed to go train, after staying up to midnight finishing a project. It is always impressive to hear of those athletes who are able to maintain as high of a standard for their academics as with their sport. Acadia has many of these such athletes.
U SPORTS (the national governing body of university sports) recognizes Academic All-Canadians: varsity athletes with an average of 80% or higher while competing in their varsity sport. This year, Acadia ranked 14th in Canada for the most number of Academic All-Canadians, ahead of St. Francis Xavier, University of British Columbia and Carleton. Acadia has 116 Academic All-Canadians for the 2016/17 school year, outnumbering last year’s record of 110. Acadia’s Academic All-Canadian banquet was held last week to recognize these athletes, with representatives from Men’s Basketball, Football, Men’s Hockey, Men’s Soccer, Men’s Swimming, Women’s Basketball, Women’s Cross-Country, Women’s Rugby, Women’s Soccer, Women’s Swimming, Women’s Track and Field, and Women’s Volleyball.
Even more impressive, Acadia is ranked first in the country per capita of Academic All-Canadians– a feat that Acadia has accomplished for the past three years.
“We’re extremely proud of the academic success in general at Acadia with our Academic All-Canadians leading the way. We’ve had the ability to dispel some of the myths that athletic and academic success are mutually exclusive,” said Kevin Dickie, Executive Director of Athletics and Community Events.
“We are equally as proud of student-athletes who may not hit the 80% benchmark but are doing all they can in the classroom to improve their grades through their dedication and commitment,” noted Dickie.
With 285 student-athletes, Acadia is one of the top university in the country with 38.5% of it’s student-athletes deemed Academic All-Canadians. With a graduation rate of 96%, the academic average of Acadia student-athletes is 75%.
Sarah Lavallée is a first year Environmental Science student and a member of the Varsity Cross Country team
