34 student-athletes celebrated for excellence in the classroom at annual breakfast
U of T’s Varsity Blues celebrated its top student-athletes from the 2017 – 2018 academic year at the ninth annual Academic Excellence Breakfast, held Jan. 22, 2019, at the Goldring Centre for High Performance.
The event recognizes student-athletes who earned an 80% average or higher in all courses they were enrolled in during the 2017- 2018 academic year, while competing on a varsity team.
Awardees received special pins to mark their achievements – enamel for first-time winners, bronze for second, silver for third, gold for fourth and diamond for students earning the award five or more times during their intercollegiate athletic careers. Yusuf Shalaby (IndE 1T8 + PEY, MIE MASc candidate), a member of the Varsity Blues Men’s Squash team, was among four U of T students who received a diamond pin.
Participating in varsity sports improves how Matthew Chen (MSE 1T7 + PEY, MSE MASc candidate) approaches both academics and life in general, shared the rower.
“It’s true, the rigours [of school work and varsity sports] do complement each other – they really make you see the value of time, how little there is, and how you must spend it carefully.”
He also emphasized the networking opportunities varsity sports provides. “I [look] forward to team practices, not just to train, but to talk to other people doing other things and getting perspective. And I think that’s the main takeaway I got from being a varsity athlete: perspective.”
“Receiving an academic excellence award is great,” adds Chen. “It really does feel nice to be recognized for your efforts in all aspects of your life – mind, body and spirit, if you will.”
The 2017-2018* U of T Engineering Varsity Blues Academic Excellence Award recipients include:
- Riley Alvarez (MechE 1T8) – Cross Country
- Jackson Banbury (MechE 1T7, MIE MEng 1T8) – Lacrosse
- Jack Berkshire (Year 3 IndE) – Track and Field
- John Browne (Year 4 IndE) – Lacrosse
- Nicole Butkovic (Year 4 CivE) – Rugby
- Katelyn Chan (IBBME MHSc candidate) – Fencing
- Matthew Chen (MSE 1T7 + PEY, MSE MASc candidate) – Rowing
- Stefan Dusciuc (Year 3 IndE) – Soccer
- Keith Eriks (MechE 1T8) – Swimming
- Zach Frangos (Year 2 ChemE) – Cross Country
- Matthew Freibauer (MechE 1T8 + PEY) – Football
- Antonina Gorshenina (EngSci 1T8 + PEY) – Tennis
- Cameron Haigh (Year 2 EngSci) – Fencing
- Liam Horrigan (MechE 1T8 + PEY, UTIAS MASc candidate) – Water Polo
- Somerset Jarvis (Year 3 CivE) –Cross Country
- Phillippe Johns (Year 2 ElecE) –Track and Field
- Megan Kamachi (IBBME MASc candidate) – Rowing
- Zia Karim (MechE 1T8 + PEY) – Volleyball
- James Keane (Year 2 ChemE) – Lacrosse
- Brenden Lavoie (Year 3 CivE) – Golf
- Beston Leung (Year 3 CompE) – Fencing
- Alex Magnan (CivE 1T8 + PEY) – Swimming
- Tori McIntyre (ChemE 1T8) – Track and Field
- Avkash Mukhi (Year 3 IndE) – Mountain Biking
- Dan Nicolau (Year 2 CompE) – Wrestling
- Osvald Nitski (Year 3 MechE) – Swimming
- Colin O’Brien (MIE MASc candidate) – Mountain Biking
- Nicole Parkes (ChemE 1T8 + PEY) – Soccer
- Kamran Ramji (Year 3 EngSci) – Rowing
- Yusuf Shalaby (IndE 1T8 + PEY, MIE MASc candidate) – Squash
- Austin Shih (CivE 1T8 + PEY) – Rowing
- Jacob Weber (Year 3 EngSci) – Curling
- Tanner Young-Schultz (CompE 1T8 + PEY, ECE MASc candidate) – Baseball
- Kaiwen Zhang (Year 3 MechE) – Rowing
*Students’ years of study and/or graduation dates are current as of January 2019.