ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
7/12/2024 3:20:00 PM | Football, General, Men's Basketball, Men's Tennis, Women's Golf, Women's Soccer
Boise State student-athletes continue to set a standard in the classroom. The Broncos led the conference with an Academic Progress Rate of 991 and a 94% Graduation Success Rate, the highest in the conference. Feature stories include the following.
* Jocelyn Stephens, soccer, named one of Boise State's Top Ten Scholars
* Three student-athletes receive Academic All-America status
* Women's Golf Leads Department in GPA
Jocelyn Stephen’s Named a Top Ten Scholar
Former women’s soccer captain Jocelyn Stephens was a recipient of the 2024 Boise State Top Scholar award, one of the highest academic honors granted to Bronco undergraduate students. To qualify for the award, the student must have a 3.8 or higher GPA and be nominated by his/her respective deans. Stephens finished her senior year with a 4.0 GPA and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Science in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry. In her four years at Boise State, Stephens had one B+, and all her remaining grades were A and A+.
Being recognized as a Top Ten Scholar was a mix of surprise and reward. I was honored to have been chosen among such a talented group of applicants across all different departments at the university. It was incredibly rewarding for me to have my work in the classroom, on the field, and in my extracurricular activities recognized and I was so grateful to get to share the award and the ceremony with friends, family, and all those who supported me through college.
A three-year starter on the field, Stephens was also an incredibly dedicated student off the field. During her final year of undergrad, Stephens received the Dr. Ralph Jones, Pre-Medical Research Fellowship, an opportunity that helps foster undergraduate research opportunities. From her fellowship, she spent time working with biochemistry Professor Ken Cornell, diving into research focusing on elimination of microbes/pathogens using cold-atmospheric pressure plasma on different substrates. This research helped her earn the Excellence in Physical Chemistry award in 2023.
As a member of the women’s soccer team, Stephens started in 21 matches during her senior season and was named All-Mountain West First Team. She also helped lead the defense to a 0.95 goals against average in 2023, the second best in the MW. Throughout her career with the Broncos, Stephens was a two-time all conference athlete and three-time MW defensive player of the week. Academically, she was named CSC Academic All-District and Academic All-MW in 2023.
Outside of her athletic and academic excellence, Stephens also dedicated time serving the Boise community. She volunteered at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and as a resident physician assistant.
“I am a self-driven individual and I hold myself to a high standard which helped me achieve both on and off the field,” said Stephens. “Most importantly, I had incredible support all around me from the athletic department, my academic mentors and peers, and my friends and family. I feel that Boise State is unique because everyone you meet, from teachers to advisors to coaches and administrators, they are all invested in the success of their students and athletes. The support of my soccer coaches, the athletic department, my academic advisors, and my professors truly propelled me to the success I found and I am so grateful to have been surrounded by an amazing network while I pursued both my academic and athletic passions.”
Stephen’s overall excellence also earned her a nomination from Boise State Athletics for the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year. This award honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. The winner of the award will be announced Jan 17, 2025 at the NCAA Convention.
Stephens plans to attend medical school next year to continue to use her degree and passion for science to positively impact the lives of all her patients.
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS
Boise State was honored by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) three Academic All-Americans during the 2023-24 year – as of this publication, at-large honorees have not been announced. The selections spanned three sports and include: Ahmed Hassaenin, football, Tyson Degenhart, men’s basketball, and Sam Sippel, men’s tennis.
Ahmed Hassanein, Football
A junior from Cairo, Egypt, Ahmed Hassanein’s emergence in the trenches made a difference for the Broncos in their push for a Mountain West title, but even more impressive is Hassanein’s continued emergence in the classroom.
An Interdisciplinary Studies major who carries a 3.68 GPA, Hassanein landed on the organization’s second team, and he is the 15th player in Boise State football’s history to be named an Academic All-American by the CSC – Bronco football has tallied seven selections since 2019.
The first-team All-Mountain West player tallied 12.5 sacks, fifth nationally, and had at least a share of a sack in nine-straight games. That streak is the longest in the FBS since 2015. Hassanein’s 16.5 TFL were the third-most in the conference.
Tyson Degenhart, Men’s Basketball
Already on the cusp of becoming the best player in program history, Tyson Degenhart etched his name further into Bronco history by earning one of the nation’s top honors. Degenhart, a junior, is only the second player in program history to be named an Academic All-American, and the first since Matt Nelson in 2007-08.
Degenhart was joined on the CSC’s first team by Max Abmas (Texas), Brandon Angel (Stanford), Marcus Domask (Illinois) and Cam Spencer (UConn), and he was the only junior on the first team.
The Spokane, Wash., native holds a 3.954 GPA while pursuing a degree in business.
The 2023-24 season was a banner year for Degenhart. He was a first-team All-Mountain West and All-NABC District 17 selection while averaging 16.7 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. His 534 points on the season is the 12th-highest total in a single season in program history, and he had 12, 20-point games and four double-doubles.
Sam Sippel, Men’s Tennis
A graduate with a degree in business administration, Sam Sippel’s is a rare and exceptional milestone, marking the highest academic honor awarded nationally in collegiate athletics. His dedication and talent have set a new standard, making him the first Boise State men's tennis player to receive this status in program history.
The native of Nuernberg, Germany, landed on the second team, and he was one of 19 men’s tennis players across NCAA Division I to earn Academic All-America honors.
His academic honors are numerous and include being a three-time CSC Academic All-American (2021, 2022, 2024), four-time CSC Academic All-District, five-time ITA Scholar-Athlete, PacWest Scholar-Athlete of the Year, five-time academic all-conference (three PacWest and two Mountain West) and two-time MW Scholar-Athlete.
Athletically, his honors were as numerous during his career. At Boise State, he earned three All-Mountain West honors (twice in singles and once in doubles), was named the 2024 MW Championship MVP, and made the all-tournament team at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. This spring, Sippel became the first Boise State student-athlete since 2014 and 12th overall to participate in the NCAA National Men's Tennis Singles Championship. He was also invited to play in the doubles championship, the first for a Bronco since 2009.
Women’s Golf Leads Department in GPA
As with sports in general, golf is one built on consistency, and often a never-ending pursuit of perfection.
Those traits have been on full display for Boise State women’s golf, which again led the athletic department in team semester GPA with a 3.82 during the Spring 2024 semester. That average set a program record which surpasses the 3.80 from Spring 2023.
One would have to go back to the days before COVID to find a semester in which the Broncos women’s golf team had below a 3.5 GPA. The sustained academic success of the program is one that has continued under head coach Kailin Downs, who became the program’s 10th head coach in 2021.
For Downs, the success in the classroom goes back to the student-athletes and their ability to prioritize their time.
“I think they make academics a big priority and they have really good time management skills,” Downs said. “They prioritize their time, and I think they do a really good job of being proactive with it.”The time management skills are needed in a sport that often takes student-athletes from the classroom. Golfers can miss approximately 12 days in the fall and 18 days in the spring competing in tournaments for 30 days over the course of a year – potentially a month of missed class time for golfers who make an appearance at each tournament.
Of the 30 competition days of the 2023-24 season, only three were on the weekend. That total doesn’t include travel time or practice rounds. That requires initiative on the student-athlete’s part to make sure they’re keeping up with the course work.
“We miss a lot of school, and they do a really good job of getting things done on the front end,” said Downs.
That initiative applies itself in every aspect of the golfer’s life. For Downs, the golfers who succeed on the course often succeed in the classroom. Look no further than the five golfers of her team who earned All-American Scholar honors from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) this year: Leia Chung, Macee Greenwood, Jillian Hui, Teal Matsueda and Franca Polla.
All five have a GPA above a 3.7. Chung and Matsueda each own a 4.0. On the course, those two set the two-lowest single-season scoring averages at 72.10 and 73.55 this year.
“There’s a correlation between the ones that do the best in the classroom and the ones that do the best on the golf course,” Downs said. “The work ethic is definitely a big part of it. The personalities that expect high standards and perfectionism all the time, they get mad at a B, or heaven forbid a C.”
Between missed class time and the constant pursuit to perform at their best, Downs is proud of the team’s efforts in all walks of life.
“In general, being a student-athlete is not an easy thing,” said Downs. “Anyone that is excelling in their sport and in their classroom, as coaches that’s what we want to see. I’m very proud of what they’re doing.”
The Year in Review continues tomorrow to celebrate student-athletes making an impact in the community.
