Queen's athletes who achieved high academic standing over the past year were recently honoured at a special reception, attended by the provost and deans from all seven faculties and schools.

By Communications Staff

Queen's Athletics & Recreation honoured their 2012-13 academic all-stars at a reception held this week in the Athletics & Recreation Centre.

291 of Queen's varsity student-athletes were recognized as academic all-stars, having earned at least an 80% (3.5 grade-point) average over the past academic year. This is the third year that the department has undertaken this initiative to honour its outstanding student-athletes.

"Our academic all-Stars are a source of pride to Queen's," says Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Alan Harrison. "The university appreciates the effort and commitment necessary to achieve academic success while at the same time meeting the demands of being a high-performance athlete. Those who excel at both are truly exceptional and you are great ambassadors for our institution."

The provost was joined by deans from each of the seven faculties and schools, along with Varsity Leadership Council co-president Aaron Gazendam, in saluting these outstanding student-athletes on their hard work and spirit in achieving excellence in the classroom as well as on the playing field.

33% of all Queen's varsity athletes were named Academic All-Stars, with the highest club team GPA being men's squash and women's sailing and the highest varsity team GPA being men's rowing and women's hockey. Queen's was in the top ten of schools in Canada for the number of academic all-Canadians in the past season.