Student-Athletes Receive Prestigous MSU Awards of Excellence
2/15/2010 10:38:35 AM
Montana State University will honor 40 seniors on Tuesday, Feb. 16 for their achievements in the fields of academics and community involvement at the annual Awards of Excellence program. Women's basketball player Jamie Thornton and football player Eric Fisher will be among the 40 honored at the SUB Ballroom.
Fisher, a health enhancement major originally from Billings, has a long track record of community and school involvement. At Billings West High School, Fisher kept himself busy in student government and various student clubs in addition to being a four-sport athlete in football, basketball, soccer, and track. He brought that work ethic with him to MSU.
“In high school I stayed involved in everything I could to keep busy. My parents are teachers so a lot of our life revolved around stuff going on at school,” Fisher said.
Making the transition to college life was challenging for Fisher.
“My freshman year here I didn't get involved in anything and got really bored,” Fisher said. “My second year here I decided to get involved because I know I had a lot more time and a lot more capabilities to offer.”
Fisher also wanted to give back to a community that had given to him.
“Being involved in athletics, you know how much the community gives,” he said. “All the student-athletes feel like we should be giving back somehow because we have such great support from the community.”
MSU Athletics sponsors an annual challenge to student-athletes and teams called the A.L.L. Challenge, an academic and community service competition. The program helps provide student-athletes with opportunities to serve the community according to their interests.
“I think the A.L.L. Challenge has put our desire to serve the community up front, but I think we always wanted to give back anyway,” Fisher said. “The A.L.L. program just gives us more opportunities and avenues to express that appreciation that's already there.”
Fisher credits the A.L.L. program with putting what he calls the “pillar of community service” out there for everyone to see.
“ Along with academics and athletics, community service is really that third pillar that makes the student-athlete experience here complete,” Fisher said.
Fisher has been involved in various community projects through both the football team and his academic major including Jump Rope Heart and donating blood. He also serves as a student senator in Associated Students of Montana State University (ASMSU). He hopes to continue his involvement in ASMSU as a graduate student next year by running for president of the senate this spring.
“This is something I've always wanted to do and I am excited I get to stay here at MSU and continue my pursuits in academics and hopefully in student government as well,” he said.
Women's basketball player Jamie Thornton never really had time for anything other than sports and academics in high school at Pullman, Washington.
“I think I was more focused on myself in high school and when I got here, the great support that you receive from the community really makes you look at things differently,” she said. “I think high school students just don't realize all the opportunities out there.”
“When I got here, community service was already built into the women's basketball culture, so I kind of picked up on it and looked for things to do that interest me,” she said. “Once you get rolling with it, you meet people that have similar interests and it becomes really fun.”
Thornton's most vivid memory of community involvement came her sophomore year helping the Heart of the Valley Animal shelter move into their new home outside Bozeman.
“We could actually see what we were doing there, and I got a real sense of accomplishment,” she said. “Plus we did it as a team so that made it more fun.”
Thornton also credits the A.L.L. Challenge with helping the community see how importance community involvement is to the student-athletes.
She has been president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for the last two years, an organization that gives student-athletes a voice in the NCAA and helps athletes achieve success in college. She also helped spear-head a recycling program in the athletic department and at the football stadium that came as an inspiration from women's assistant coach Justin Scanson.
Thornton, a math major, enjoys the academic challenge of college life and feels honored to be an Awards of Excellence recipient.
“It's a great honor to be chosen as one of the top forty seniors on campus,” Thornton said.
As a women's basketball player, the pursuit of academic excellence is nothing new for Thornton. Every year Thornton's been at MSU, the women's basketball team has achieved one of the top grade point averages in the country.
“I think it's a culture we've tried to get going and it has really caught on,” Thornton said. “It matters a lot to the coaches and it matters to us as players as well.”
