Alma Athletics Announces Annual Award Recipients
ALMA, Mich. - Alma College has awarded its annual leadership awards. All awards were presented this week, leading up to today’s Honors Day Convocation on campus.The Block Scholar-Athlete Award is presented annually to the Alma College student-athlete who excels in academics, athletics and community involvement. This year’s recipient is volleyball’s Erin Fralick (Petoskey). Football’s Calvin Hilson (Three Rivers) earned the Wright “Service Through Athletics” Award. Rounding out the awards, the senior athlete leadership award is presented annually to an Alma College male and female student-athlete who exemplify campus leadership and play a leadership role within their sport. The 2006 recipients are women’s soccer’s Pam McCarthy (Flushing/Powers Catholic) and men’s basketball’s Drew Barnhart (West Branch/Ogemaw Heights).
Fralick became Alma’s first-ever volleyball AVCA first team All-American after a 2005 season that saw her leave an indelible mark on the Alma volleyball program. Pursuing a career in education, Fralick is a history and political science major. She earned second team All-MIAA honors in 2003. In 2004 she earned first team All-MIAA recognition and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) first team All-Region and honorable mention All-America distinction. In her senior season, she was selected as the MIAA’s Most Valuable Player, again earned first team All-MIAA accolades and became Alma’s first-ever AVCA first team All-American. She also serves as a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member, is involved in the Hillcrest Elementary Reading Buddies program, coached AAU and Alma High School junior varsity volleyball.
Hilson was a four-year letterwinner for the Scots on the gridiron and ended his career as a defensive end with the Maroon and Cream. Serving as vice-president of the Multi-cultural Black Student Union, he helps coordinate and promote diversity programs on campus and in the community and was a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr., task force on campus. He founded the Alma College poetry society, performed with the Alma College Dance Company in its spring dance concert and works as a teacher assistant and tutor in the psychology department. Extending his hand into the community, Hilson works with the Gratiot County juvenile court system as a probation officer intern and completed a practicum at the Ionia maximum security prison and the St. Louis Pine River correction facility.
Pam McCarthy is the 2006 Student-Athlete Leadership Award recipient. A four-year dean’s list student, McCarthy captained the Alma College women’s soccer team in both 2004 and 2005, earning honorable mention All-MIAA in 2003 and 2005. She is the president of Beta Beta Beta (biology honorary), treasurer and student congress representative of Alma College’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the treasurer of Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership honorary), a core group member of the Catholic Students Organization and a member of Pi Mu Epsilon (math honorary). Additionally, she is a member of Alma College’s percussion ensemble, glee club and chorale. She is a workshop leader for peer-led team learning in organic chemistry and is a teacher assistant in the organic chemistry lab in addition to working at the Writing Center on campus.
Drew Barnhart is the male 2006 Student-Athlete Leadership Award honoree. He serves as the vice-president of the campus Fellowship for Christian Athletes (FCA) and was a captain of the men’s basketball team in the 2005-06 season. He has worked with the College’s Alma in the World mentoring program and is completing his degree in biology with medical school on the horizon.
Posted: Thu, April 6th, 2006 at 12:58AM
