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Buff athletes and athletics- Graduation 2017 (Ceremony- 8:30 AM, 5/12) / Academic Achievements

AztecBuff

AztecBuff

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Thought I'd create this thread for us to:
  • Accumulate anything anyone sees related to the Buff athletes graduating (articles, twitter or instagram posts, etc.). (I also did this last year- https://www.allbuffs.com/threads/buff-athletes-graduation-2016.116602/#post-1989906 .)
  • This year, since a lot of academic awards and info also comes out this time of year, figured I'd also add that we can also post anything we hear of academic achievement(s) regarding any Buff athletes (graduating or not), or athletics and academics in general.
Note- With Buff alum/ former women's basketball player Kate Fagen the commencement speaker this year, there's an extra connection to graduation and Buff athletics in 2017!

Congrats to ALL the Buffs graduating, athletes AND non-athletes alike, for this personal landmark accomplishment. Hope all goes well in your futures!

Links to Live Stream - (looks like it will be available via both Facebook and Youtube) - http://www.colorado.edu/commencement/

Commencement homepage - http://www.colorado.edu/commencement/spring-ceremony

Social media- If others don't do it 1st, I'll try to post any social media that is student-athlete relevant in this thread. However, If you just want to see words from and/ or photos of happy graduates and their families, whether athletes or not- In the commencement homepage, folks are asked to hashtag #ForeverBuffs in their tweets (and I assume instagrams), so assume that will be another way to follow along with the general festivities from the general graduating student- side. (Assume there will also be a lot of #gobuffs and #skobuffs used.)
Links - https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/foreverbuffs/ , https://twitter.com/search?q=#Foreverbuffs&src=typd&vertical=default&f=tweets
 
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Just a few specific things I've found so far.

"
BOULDER — The University of Colorado Academic Progress Rate (APR) report based on information for the four year period from 2012-13 through 2015-16 was released by the NCAA Wednesday with those of all other Division I schools, with CU once again reporting positive news for all 17 of its intercollegiate athletic programs in that time frame.

For the sixth consecutive year, the APR result, averaged across the sport programs, is the highest in school history since the NCAA's Academic Performance Program was introduced in 2003. Here are the significant accomplishments that CU student-athletes recorded in the latest NCAA report:
...

"As I come to the end of my faculty career, it is gratifying to reflect on the academic strides that CU's student-athletes have made since I was appointed Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) in 2005," said Dr. David Clough, who is retiring after this semester after 12 years in the role and 43 overall as a professor in CU's College of Engineering and Applied Science. "The current APR scores, when taken together with graduation rates and team cumulative grade point averages, provide indisputable evidence of the academic success of our student-athletes."
Clough has served as a member of the NCAA Committee on Academics since its inception, which has responsibility for oversight of the Association's Academic Performance Program and Academic Progress Rate measure.
As previously mentioned, the NCAA doesn't compute APR results for all sports combined at every institution, but Colorado's overall APR picture has been outstanding. The team annual APR averages for all CU student-athletes have improved from 943 for the 2006-07 report to the current 986. CU tracks the composite APR as a measuring stick for a declared a goal reaching and maintaining at least a 980 in the school's current strategic plan. That number was 986 for 2014-15 and is 984 for 2015-16, both exceeding the standard.
"These results are because of the efforts of many, first and foremost our student-athletes who have done a tremendous job," athletic director Rick George said. "The coaches are at the forefront in creating the right kind of culture for them to engage, plus the support and dedication provided by Kris Livingston (director of the Herbst Academic Center) and her staff is second-to-none. They do a wonderful job year-round in providing leadership and counseling to play a large role in the student-athletes' success."
The reporting covered all 17 of CU's intercollegiate sport programs (team-by-team statistical data; once again, indoor and outdoor track teams are combined; team GPA is cumulative value as of the Fall 2016 semester; a few scores were slightly adjusted and re-submitted to the NCAA – those updates included below to present accurate data):
"
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  • And, congrats and thanks (for what they've already done in helping in the community) to graduating seniors and women basketball players Zoe Beard-Fails and Haley Smith !
Article entitled "Beard-Fails And Smith Named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award Winners" - http://www.cubuffs.com/news/2017/5/...hur-ashe-jr-sports-scholar-award-winners.aspx

"
FAIRFAX, Va. – Colorado women's basketball player Zoe Beard-Fails and Haley Smith have both been recognized as Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award winners by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education. They are the first two CU women's basketball players to earn the award.

Diverse: Issues In Higher Education sponsors the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Awards to honor undergraduate students who have excelled in the classroom as well as on the athletic field. The award was inspired by tennis legend Arthur Ashe, Jr.'s commitment to education. In addition to their athletic ability and academic performance, Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars demonstrate a commitment to community outreach and student leadership.

"Haley Smith and Zoe Beard-Fails were an absolute blessing to not only the women's basketball program here at CU, but the entire Boulder community," head coach JR Payne said. "They are two of the hardest-working young ladies I have ever had to opportunity to coach. Haley and Zoe have combined academic excellence with a desire to be great on the basketball court and a true commitment to being leaders in our community. I am proud to call these young ladies Buffs for life!"
...
"

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On the graduation photo/ other info side- it's been pretty quiet leading up to the ceremony (now later today). So far, the only thing I've seen is Volleyball posting the below a couple days ago-

 
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And-
(Obviously yesterday- )


Edit- Forgot I had read an article on graduating lacrosse Buff Maddie Dewinter-


Direct link- http://www.colorado.edu/today/2017/05/09/class-2017-embracing-collaboration

"
It's a question college athletes hear on a regular basis: "How do you manage to find the time to balance schoolwork and Division I athletics?"

For Maddie DeWinter, a defender on the NCAA tournament-bound Colorado lacrosse team, the answer is simple. "If I have a bad day at school, get a bad test grade, when I come to practice, I don't have to worry about it . . . I get this three- or four-hour break where I don't have to focus on school."

Conversely, DeWinter says, academics can offer a similar respite from the rigors of participating in Division I athletics.

It would be hard to argue with DeWinter's formula. The senior from Parker, Colorado, is set to graduate with a degree in chemical and biological engineering and a grade-point average north of 3.9. She also was recently honored with CU's senior female Scholar-Athlete Award.

When DeWinter arrived with CU's first recruiting class, she was a starter as a freshman. By her sophomore year, when more recruits joined the team, she played in 18 games but had just six starts. As a junior, she appeared in just nine games, and this year she has appeared in just five games.

DeWinters says the transition has been one of the hardest things she's had to deal with in her time at CU, but true to form, she has made something good out of a difficult situation.

"It's provided one of the biggest lessons I've learned athletically," she notes.
"Being behind the scenes and putting in the legwork so the team is elevated translates very well into engineering," she said. "Having that drive, not giving up and continuing to work at it—it's taught me a lot. I've learned that teamwork can produce great results and you don't have to be in the spotlight to be part of that success. It's a lesson I will take with me long after I'm done playing lacrosse."

When the season finally comes to an end, DeWinter will begin working for Elion Labs, a Louisville-based analytical research company. A year from now, she hopes to begin pursuit of her MD-PhD degree.

But her time at CU—in the classroom, on the field and in the lab—will always be part of her foundation.
"
 
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Graduating from CU is the ultimate bittersweet experience.

Four (or five, in my case) of the best years of your life. You don't realize it at the time, but once you graduate, you'll find yourself spending the rest of your life trying to come back. I'm lucky, I live nearby and get to experience it six saturdays a year.
 
http://www.espn.com/espnw/voices/ar...Fagan-university-colorado-commencement-speech
 
Leaving never-never land with a degree. Good bye Boulder. Hello real world.

Go forth, good grad, and become the person you are meant to be.

Never give in. Shoulder to Shoulder. Forever Buff.
 
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