Nineteen Penn State undergraduate athletes awaiting graduation in fall ceremonies


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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. Nineteen student-athletes from Penn State are due to graduate on Saturday, December 18, during the opening ceremony.

The Nittany Lion student athletes represent 12 sports on the graduate list. The Penn State Athletic Department heads the soccer program with six student athletes. Baseball, women’s fencing, men’s hockey, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s athletics, women’s athletics, and women’s volleyball all have student-athletes graduating on Saturday.

Among the undergraduates who have announced their intention to graduate is women’s soccer player Kerry Abello, who was CoSIDA Women’s Academic All-American of the Year in 2020-21. Abello has a perfect GPA of 4.0 in Science and was recently named CoSIDA Women’s Soccer Academic All-American of the Year for the second time and first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America for the third time.

164 Nittany Lions graduated in the 2021 calendar year (Spring 2021-130, Summer 2021-15, Fall 2021-19).

A total of 27 football student-athletes earned 28 degrees prior to the Outback Bowl

With six new graduates on Saturday, the Nittany Lions soccer team has 27 undergraduate athletes who earned 28 degrees prior to the Outback Bowl vs. Arkansas on Jan. 1. Jaquan Brisker, Bradley King, PJ Mustipher, Nick Tarburton, Dan Vasey and Ben Wilson are due to graduate on Saturday.

All Big Ten academic winners in Fall 2021

A program record of 131 Penn State student-athletes received Academic All-Big Ten awards for Penn State’s fall programs. The 131 award winners are the most in Penn State fall history and lead the 117 fall 2017 picks. Victoria Vanriele (women cross country), Jonathan Sutherland (soccer), Kerry Abello (women soccer), Sam Coffey (women soccer), Olivia Damico (women soccer) and Payton Sewall (cross country men) all had perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Senior Kerry Abello from the women’s football program is on the list of Academic All-Big-Ten winners this fall. Abello is two-time CoSIDA Women’s Soccer Academic All-American of the Year, three-time First-Team CoSIDA Academic All-America and CoSIDA Women’s Academic All-American of the Year 2020-21. Sam Coffey (women’s soccer) and Pierre Reedy (men’s soccer) also received CoSIDA Academic All-America Awards this fall. In total, Penn State has received 216 Academic All-America awards in program history.

Graduation success rates

Penn State student-athletes continue to have record graduation rates and rank well above their peers nationwide. The Nittany Lions achieved a fifth consecutive record-breaking or record-breaking academic achievement with a graduation success rate of 92 percent, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The NCAA’s annual graduation rate report from Division I institutions across the country found that Penn State’s student athletes on the University Park campus achieved a graduation success rate (GSR) of 92%, breaking the school’s previous all-time record of 92 on the NCAA 2020 Report. Nittany Lion students had a 92% graduation rate compared to the 89% average of all Department I institutions for students entering between 2011-12 and 2014-15.

Penn State student-athletes have seen graduation success rates ranging from 88 to 92% in each of the last 15 NCAA reports, up from 88% in the 2015 report to a record-breaking 92% in 2020 and 2021.

Sixteen of the 27 Nittany Lions teams (men’s and women’s athletics and cross-country teams combined) achieved a completion rate equal to or greater than the national Division I GSR average for their respective sport. A total of 18 Penn State Squads have a GSR of 90% or higher.

Penn State is one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful sports programs

Under the direction of the Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour, Penn State has one of the most comprehensive and successful sports programs in the country with 800 student-athletes in 31 university programs (16 men, 15 women). The Nittany Lions’ 31 programs are dedicated to the fourth largest number of sports sponsored by an institution of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

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