INDIANAPOLIS—The NCAA announced the 22 finalists for the 2023 Division II Award of Excellence on Wednesday afternoon. Two member institutions from the Great Midwest were honored this year for embodying the Division II philosophy.
 
The Division II Award of Excellence recognizes initiatives taken by institutions in the past year that encourages community engagement through student-athlete leadership.
 
Walsh University was selected as the 2023 finalist from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference for the fifth consecutive year. Throughout the year, Walsh University student-athletes have built and maintained a partnership with Plain Local Schools and their Fierce Female program through the Student Athlete Advisory Committee’s (SAAC) Athletes With Action Initiative. The Athletes With Action Initiative aims to create an opportunity to positively impact students through interactions with student-athletes at the collegiate level. Over the course of a year, 175 Walsh student-athletes from 14 teams spent over 300 hours with local students. The Fierce Female program gave Women athletes the opportunity to serve as mentors to young girls and guide them to setting high expectations while also positively impacting their peers along the way. Walsh’s Athletes with Action program was first implemented in August of 2022.
 
Cedarville University joins Walsh as the second representative from the Great Midwest. Cedarville was recognized as an At-Large selection for their reading program that was first adopted during the height of COVID-19. The Yellow Jacket Virtual Reading Program has given student-athletes the opportunity to engage with local elementary students in an eight-week virtual reading series. Since first being implemented in the summer of 2020, the program has grown immensely. The program started with 16 teachers and 314 students. This past fall, 57 teachers from 10 different schools registered their classes and 1,197 students for the program. Additionally, over 265 books have been donated to 11 classrooms. 
 
Both Walsh and Cedarville are finalists for the award, with the national winner scheduled to be announced on Jan. 14.