42 UWA Student-Athletes Expected to Receive Degrees Saturday

LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Forty-two Tiger student-athletes, including 17 who have earned the University of West Alabama Scholar Athlete Medallion, are scheduled to receive their college degrees at commencement exercises Saturday at Tiger Stadium on the UWA campus.

With 42 expected to participate in commencement exercises Saturday, the total number of student-athletes to have earned degrees through this academic year is 97. Thirty-three will have graduated wearing the UWA Scholar Athlete medallion.

To earn a Scholar Athlete medallion a student-athlete must have completed her/his eligibility as a Tiger student-athlete and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or better.

UWA will honor more than 700 graduates at the combined undergraduate and graduate commencement exercises Saturday, with the ceremony beginning at 10:30 a.m. Commencement exercises feature changes made to adhere to COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. A limited number of guest tickets are available, but the ceremony will also stream live at www.uwa.edu/live.

Saturday's commencement exercises will be the first held outdoors in Tiger Stadium since 1999.

With the ceremony being held at Tiger Stadium, guests seating can be provided at distances prescribed by state and healthcare authorities. If inclement weather requires that the ceremony be moved to an indoor location, guest passes for Tiger Stadium will be void, and no guests will be admitted in the smaller venue.

"We continue to be so very proud and happy for our Tiger student-athletes for achieving their graduation goal," UWA Director of Athletics Bobby Wallace said. "With their perseverance through different and difficult times due to COVID protocols, we are especially delighted to help them celebrate such an accomplishment.

"We are also especially pleased to award 17 Scholar Athlete Medallions to distinguish those Tigers who earned success in both the classroom and their competition venues," Wallace said. "Our goal never changes for our student-athletes. When their time at UWA is over we want to them to leave with a degree, a medallion and a championship ring."

Of the 42 student-athletes who are graduating, 13 are either former or current Tiger football players, while men's soccer and men's track and field both have six earning their degree. Baseball has four, followed by softball and men's rodeo with three. A handful of sports have two or less to round out the numbers.

Following are the student-athletes who earned Scholar-Athlete Medallions this spring:

Name	Sport	GPA
Jenni Aarniva	Women's Soccer	3.90
Rakim Ali	Men's Soccer	3.55
Connor Brooks	Baseball	3.36
Nicole Buccieri	Softball	3.54
Brianna Forrest	Women's Soccer	3.84
Oliver Harrison	Men's Soccer	3.38
Noah Johansen	Men's Tennis	3.14
Trenton Lee	Baseball	3.00
Kylie Martin	Softball	3.06
Kyle Rock	Men's Track and Field	3.24
Nate Sanford	Men's Track and Field	3.76
Cody Stubbs	Men's Rodeo	3.18
Max Valdez	Men's Track and Field	3.03
Caleigh Wallace	Softball	3.67
Peyton Warren	Baseball	3.63
Jacob Watt	Men's Rodeo	3.12
Joshua Williams	Men's Track and Field	3.34

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