FRISCO,
Texas — Texas A&M
University-Corpus Christi baseball student-athlete Paul Saville and
Texas State softball student-athlete Jill Kloesel have been awarded
the Southland Conference's F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarships,
presented by Capital One Bank. Both student-athletes will be
celebrated during the Southland Honors Ceremony on May 29 in
Galveston, Texas.
The McDonald
Scholarship is the league's ultimate academic honor for its top
graduates. The award is presented annually to graduating male and
female letterwinners with the highest cumulative grade point
averages during their enrollment at Southland member schools. The
$2,500 scholarship must be applied to graduate study at an
institution of the recipient's choice.
"We are very pleased to
announce this year's McDonald Scholarship Awards, and Paul and Jill
have proven themselves as model student-athletes during their
academic and athletic careers," Southland Conference commissioner
Tom Burnett said.
As an undergraduate,
Saville posted a perfect 4.0 in psychology, and plans to continue
his education with a master's degree in kinesiology. His future
plans include becoming a sports psychologist, strength and
conditioning coach or physical education instructor.
At A&M-Corpus
Christi, Saville has been on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll and
a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society for the past two years.
He has a career .270 batting average and has scored 26
runs.
Before coming to the
Islanders, he began his academic career at Cerro Coso Community
College, where he was on the Dean's List for eight semesters, was a
member of Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society and received the Fire
Mountain Foundation Award, given to the athlete with the highest
grade point average. He was also named preseason All-American there
and was the team's captain in 2006.
Kloesel finished her
collegiate career with a perfect 4.0 GPA in athletic training with
a pre-physical therapy emphasis. She has been a dean's list student
and has been named to the SLC Commissioner's Honor Roll. Named
Texas State's Scholar Athlete of the Year, Kloesel will be a member
of the first new class of Texas State's physical therapy doctorate
program.
One of only two
four-year seniors on the 2008 Bobcat squad, Kloesel's future plans
include working as a physical therapist upon receiving her
DPT.
The award was
established in memory of Dr. F.L. McDonald in 1996-97, a former
president of Lamar University and 1999 Southland Hall of Honor
inductee. McDonald served as Lamar's president in 1963 when the
Southland Conference was established and is considered one of the
league's founding fathers.
Each member institution
may nominate one male and one female student-athlete who meet the
following criteria: a letterwinner in a conference sport, be on
track to graduate during the spring in which they are nominated or
the subsequent summer, and plan to attend graduate school no later
than the second fall following the receipt of the award.
Recognition is also in
order for the league's scholar-athletes of the year. The annual
awards are presented to the outstanding male and female individuals
at each Southland school as determined by their respective
institution administrators. To be eligible, students must be a
letter winner with a 3.2 grade point average and have acquired at
least two years of intercollegiate competition at the school from
which he/she was nominated.
