BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Laura Jimenez (Sr., Commerce, Calif./Montebello) of the 2016, 2017 & 2018 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion University of Michigan women’s water polo team is among 1,143 students competing in intercollegiate athletics during the 2017-18 academic year to earn a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award. The list includes students from all 14 Big Ten institutions and 38 different sports who have recorded a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year.
A two-time Big Ten Scholar Athlete selection (2017, 2018) and a 2018 graduate from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts with a degree in international studies and a minor in science, technology and society, Jimenez is among 91 Wolverines’ student-athletes to earn the award and is one of three women’s water polo players to garner recognition joining Emily Powell (So., Brisbane, Australia/Brisbane Girls Grammar School) and Karrie Kozokar (R-Jr., Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) of Indiana University.
Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must be a recipient of Academic All-Big Ten Recognition in the previous academic year, must have been enrolled fulltime at the institution for the entire previous academic year (two semesters or three quarters) and earned a minimum GPA of 3.70 or better during the previous academic year, excluding any summer grades. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student’s academic career.
