Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The academic year came to an end, grades are posted and San Jose State student-athletes can celebrate another academic year in the books.

Based on the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate scores that measure retention and graduation, SJSU can celebrate its fourth straight year with an APR score over 970 when the benchmark of 930 translates to a 50% graduation rate. 18 of the 20 teams had an APR score of 955 of higher in this year’s report and the goal is to have the APR at 985 by the end of the 2018-19 school year. The men’s cross country, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, and beach volleyball teams received a NCAA Public Recognition Award for earning the maximum score of 1,000 in the latest report.

“One of the core values of San Jose State University Athletics is ‘academics.’ Every single day we focus our attention on surrounding our student-athletes with the resources to be academically successful. Our dedicated advisors and learning specialists, not to mention our coaches and staff, recognize the importance and the priority of academic achievement,” said athletics director Marie Tuite.

“We celebrate this past year with the knowledge we can be better, and will continue to place academic interests and pursuits as the key priority of this department. Nothing is more important than earning a degree from San Jose State University. I’m incredibly proud of the students-athletes and coaches for these accomplishments.”

Individual honors
Of the more than 100 student-athletes that graduated this year, 19 graduated with honors. 13 were cum laude graduates, five were magna cum laude, and one graduated with the highest honor–summa cum laude. Through increased focus and outreach, five former student-athletes returned to San Jose State and completed their undergraduate degrees. Another nine former student-athletes worked towards a master’s degree.

For the fourth consecutive year, more than 60 student-athletes were recognized either as a President’s Scholar or a Dean’s Scholar at San Jose State’s annual Honors Convocation.

More than 50% of San Jose State’s student-athlete population achieved a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher in the Fall 2017 or Spring 2018 semesters.

When all the conference academic awards for the year are handed out by the end of July, San Jose State student-athletes will receive 207 awards from the Mountain West, Western Athletic Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, or the Golden Coast Conference.

Last April, San Jose State led the nation with a school-record 41 student-athletes who were honored as 2018 Arthur Ashe, Jr., Sports-Scholars. The annual awards program recognizes undergraduate student-athletes of color who personify tennis star Arthur Ashe’s ideals of scholarship, athletics achievement, and humanitarianism. Selected student-athletes had at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and were active in community service events.

Four men’s and 10 women’s water polo players were members of the Association of College Water Polo Coaches’ National All-Academic teams. The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America named five Spartans to its Scholar All-America Team.

In the near future, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association, and the United States Track and Cross Country Coaches Association will name Spartan student-athletes to 2018 national scholar-athlete achievement programs.

Football star Nate Velichko qualified for the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s Hampshire Honor Society. He was also a national semifinalist for the NFF William V. Campbell Trophy.

Team honors
For the first time, the American Football Coaches Association recognized San Jose State football for academic achievement based on the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate formula. Based on this year’s NCAA report on GSR, the football program has an all-time high 81% graduation rate for the freshmen and transfer classes from 2007 to 2010.

Women’s swimming and diving, women’s water polo, and women’s tennis kept their streaks going for team GPA’s above 3.00 and were honored by their respective national coaches associations. For women’s swimming, it has been 11 consecutive semesters, eight years for women’s tennis, and two for women’s water polo.

“We look forward to our student-athletes’ future academic achievements and accomplishments. They are wonderful representatives and ambassadors of our great institution – San Jose State University,” concluded Tuite.