Student athletes were honored during half time of the basketball game against Western Kentucky last Thursday evening.

The student athlete medallion awards ceremony honors student athletes who attained a minimum of a 3.0 GPA throughout the previous year.

Those earning a 3.0-3.3 received a bronze award, 3.3-3.7 a silver and 3.7-4.0 a gold award. This year 158 student athletes earned these awards, but only about 75 were in attendance to receive their awards.

Some missing teams included the women’s swimming and diving team that is in Arkansas at the Sun Belt Conference championships and some student-athletes have graduated explaining the low numbers receiving awards.

“It is important for athletes to know that people in athletics recognize them for more than their ability on the field or in the pool,” said Dorado Kinney, director of student-athlete support services.

It is important for other students, the faculty and staff to see that student athletes are more than just students or just athletes.

This night is important to showcase not only that over half of the student athletes maintain above a 3.0, but also to recognize them for their hard work in the classroom.

“A lot of students are getting a 3.0 [or above], but aren’t getting up at 6 a.m. for morning practice, or traveling most of the year,” Kinney said.

“It’s good to work with students [such as these],” Kinney said. “It makes you feel better when students excel in the classroom.”

Having the ceremony is also important for the athletes.

“It reflects my performance in school,” said recipient Jason Tan. “It makes you want to get the gold.”

This event is important to “promote the athletes and show that they do [well] in school as well,” Nejc Smole said. “Most people think [athletes] just take scholarships,” but also attend school and do well.

Possibly the best reason for holding such a ceremony is because “for 99.9 per cent of the student athletes here [being honoured], academics will determine what they do for the rest of their life,” said Christian Bowers.

The night was held in conjunction with faculty and staff appreciation night to get as many people at the event as possible.

Law school Professor Arthur Bets decided to bring all of his students, 130 in total, to the event for the law “students to get a taste for the sports that we have,” said Bets.

According to Nancy Sampson, faculty athletic representative, more faculty should be energized about what their students accomplish out side of the classroom.

Sampson said that holding the two events on the same night is an attempt to build support for athletics and try to get different faculty at sports events.