Lindy Resident Receives NJCAA Student-Athlete Award

A Lindenhurst native and student-athlete has received kudos for his academic achievement.

Jason Goodwin, a student from Suffolk County Community College’s Michael J. Grant Campus, recently received a 2011-12 NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Award for Superior Academic Achievement.

While attending Suffolk Goodwin - an athlete involved in swimming and diving - achieved a 3.8 GPA and majored in Business Administration.

“The college’s mission promotes intellectual discovery, as well as physical development,” Dr. Shaun L. McKay, president of Suffolk County Community College, said about the honor in a press release.

“The recipients of the 2011-2012 NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Awards have successfully mastered both aspects of their lives, and should be commended for their exemplary performance in team athletics and in the classroom,” McKay added.

Nearly 60,000 student-athletes competed in the NJCAA for the 2011-12 academic year on more than 3,500 teams in 28 different sports. More than 1,680 NJCAA student-athletes met the requirements for individual academic honors.

The 2011-12 season marks the 29th year the NJCAA has recognized the success of its student-athletes in the classroom.

With minimal changes the NJCAA academic awards program has been in place since 1983, according to the same press release.

These awards were previously known as NJCAA Academic All-American honors. The NJCAA has renamed its academic awards program to the following:

• NJCAA Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence (4.00 GPA on a 4.00 scale)
• NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Achievement (3.80 to 3.99 on a 4.00 scale)
• NJCAA Award for Exemplary Academic Achievement (3.60 to 3.79 on a 4.00 scale)