Full NCAA Relase
INDIANAPOLIS - Cedarville and Walsh were one of twenty-eight institutions and one conference named as finalists for the 2021 Division II Award of Excellence, as released Tuesday morning.
The DII Award of Excellence recognizes initiatives in the past year that exemplify the Division II philosophy, community engagement and student-athlete leadership.
One finalist was chosen from each of the division’s 23 conferences and six additional finalists were picked as at-large honorees.
Walsh was selected as the conference honoree for holding a community freedom walk and Cedarville was selected as an at-large nominee for participating in a virtual reading program
The Walsh athletics department partnered with Not for Sale: One Step at a Time to prevent human trafficking, educate people about the topic and bring awareness to it. Student-athletes also organized and participated in a Walk for Freedom to abolish human trafficking on campus.
“It is a great privilege to be part of a university that embraces and truly enjoys any opportunity to serve the community and bring awareness to important topics,” said Walsh’s Compliance Coordinator, Taylor Mohr, who helped to organize the event. “Our student-athletes are a true embodiment of Walsh’s culture. Seeing the number of student-athletes that engaged in our Walk for Freedom event and the impact it had on the participants was very moving. Our student leaders in SAAC continued to talk about the event and how it changed the way they view the world as well as how much of an impact their presence and engagement has on campus and within the community” concluded Mohr.
Walsh has been recognized as a finalist for the DII Award of Excellence for three years in a row. Last year, Walsh’s women’s soccer team organized a Taylor Ceepo Memorial Night in remembrance of their former teammate who passed away suddenly in May of 2019. Over 500 individuals attended the memorial event, that featured t-shirt sales, basket raffles, and food truck sales. All profits were donated to the Taylor Ceepo Memorial fund at the Cleveland Foundation.
“Being recognized as an Award of Excellence Finalist three consecutive years and four times in the last five years is an overwhelming honor and something we take great pride in as a testament to what we strive for at Walsh,” added Mohr.
Accustomed to connecting via technology, Cedarville student-athletes recorded themselves reading their favorite children’s book and shared the video with local elementary students. The student-athletes also donated Magic Tree House books to a few teachers who were then able to give each student a book.
“We knew that everything would need to look different this year, but one thing we did not want to change was the opportunity for Cedarville athletes to serve the community,” said Stephanie Zonars, Assistant AD for Administration, SWA and SAAC Advsior at Cedarville. “We created the Yellow Jacket Virtual Reading Program, sending videos of CU athletes reading their favorite children's book to 16 local 2nd-5th grade teachers. Four of the classes won a Magic Tree House book set (28 books), to give each of their students a free book. Athletes from eight different Cedarville teams participated,” added Zonars.
A committee of athletics administrators determined this year’s finalists, and the national Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee selects the winner, who will be announced at the Division II business session Jan. 15 at the virtual 2021 NCAA Convention.
Each finalist will receive $500. The winner will receive an additional $2,500, while the runner-up will receive $1,250 and third place will receive $1,000. All prize money is intended for future SAAC initiatives or community engagement events.