University of Georgia Athletics
Eleven Student-Athletes To Be Inducted into Leadership Academy
October 17, 2013 | General
Oct. 17, 2013
ATHENS, Ga. - Eleven student-athletes from the University of Georgia will be inducted into the Student-Athlete Leadership Academy at a ceremony on October 21 in the Richard B. Taylor Room in the Coliseum Training Facility. Dr. Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders will serve as the keynote speaker at the event.
This is the fourth year of the L.E.A.D. program after 17 student-athletes were inducted last year, 20 in 2011 and 26 in 2010. The student-athletes were chosen based on academic and athletic success, leadership, campus and community service involvement and recommendations of head coaches and academic counselors.
Along with encouraging leadership development and providing resources to compete for awards and scholarships, the student-athletes will have a chance to meet with local, state and industry leaders. It is one of the program's goals to have the student-athletes visit a company where superb leadership has had a visible impact on the organization and/or surrounding community.
Additionally, these student-athletes will be provided with resources to be competitive for conference and national awards and postgraduate scholarships, such as the NCAA Top VIII award, NCAA Woman of the Year award and the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarship.
As an incentive for participating in the program, L.E.A.D. participants will have the opportunity to compete for a highly coveted graduate assistantship position within the UGA Athletic Association. The 2012-13 inductees are:
Baseball: Hunter Cole (Moore, S.C.)
Men's Basketball: Marcus Thornton (Atlanta, Ga.)
Equestrian: Paige Stawicki (Argyle, Texas)
Football: Keith Marshall (Raleigh, N.C.)
Softball: Niaja Griffin (Orlando, Fla.)
Men's Swimming & Diving: Will Freeman (Atlanta, Ga.)
Women's Swimming & Diving: Laura Ryan (Elk River, Minn.)
Men's Tennis: Nathan Pasha (Atlanta, Ga.)
Women's Tennis: Maho Kowase (Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan)
Women's Track & Field/Cross Country: Megan Malasarte (Fayetteville, Ga.); Lucie Ondraschkova (Opava, Czech Republic)
Current members of the Leadership Academy include Tori Allen (soccer), Maria Augutis (track & field), Chris Burnette (football), Chris Conley (football), Noel Couch (gymnastics), Laura Eddy (soccer), Nic Fink (swimming & diving), Ty Frix (football), Kate Fuller (tennis), Andrew Gemmell (swimming & diving), J.P. Hackney (track & field/cross country), Julia Hemingway (equestrian), Lauren Herring (tennis), Morgann Leleux (track & field), Maddie Locus (swimming & diving), Burke McCarty (track & field), Aaron Murray (football), Nicholas Reach (golf), Will Reynolds (tennis), Allison Schmitt (swimming & diving), Garrison Smith (football), Kosta Vavlas (football), Chance Veazey (baseball), Shannon Vreeland (swimming & diving), Aron White (football) and Shayla Worley (gymnastics).
