This video, titled Elon Athletics 44th Awards Banquet, occurred in the spring of 2018 in Alumni Gym. Dave Blank began the student athletic awards event. This annual event celebrates the accomplishments of each successful student athlete. 00:01:48 Blank asked the assistant coaches to stand for an applause. 00:02:33 Blank acknowledged the senior athletes and said, “Always come home.” 00:03:28 “We are honored to have our brand new president here, Connie Book. I would like to invite her to the stage for some comments,” stated Blank. 00:04:02 “Thank you, Dave. And Good Evening. It is great to be here. Already it is spring and I have been so impressed with the student athletes. I remember spending several afternoons at games and on the sidelines and watching the teams. So it is good to come back and see—right in the middle of basketball season and two weeks into the job, had good fortune of the women winning the NCCA Championship. So it was a great welcome. Today, I have a chance to look at some of the statistics about our student athletes. I was really proud to read about the accomplishments. I know you have to find the voice inside of yourself that says to push and to press. And that is what makes a great student athlete. I am appreciative of the personal leadership that is required to be ready to play, to be ready in the classroom, and the way you represent us in the CAA with other teams. I am really proud of the honor and integrity of the sportsmanship that you each demonstrate. And I have watched you support each other in the few months that I have been here. And I am really grateful for that, too. Being a great peer on the team. 00:05:12 And you all are engaged in every aspect of Elon’s education. And when I look at the list of achievements, our success on and off the course (in fact this year, our teams led the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in graduation success rate. We were number one in this (applause). Really proud of that. Our scores were 94 percent. And then we have six teams that have another score that we monitor and that is academic progress and we had six teams score a perfect 100 percent and another seven earned national recognition. So both of those achievements demonstrate the commitment that our students, athletes, and coaches have for strong academic performance. In addition to that you have been traveling over Thanksgiving break, the women’s LaCrosse team travelled to England, and the men’s & women’s golf teams travelled to Scotland, spring break the volleyball team travelled to Italy, and juniors on the football team travelled to Coastal Rica. Since 2011, a total of 22 teams have taken part on a global experience and more are scheduled to do so next year. I would like to say how proud of that—of that commitment from Elon and to you. … This came about because of Dave Blank and all of his staff and generous supporters who make your global experience possible. Let’s give them a great round of applause. And in the fall (2018), we are going to open a great Schar Center and a new tennis facility. 00:07:23 I was also very surprised to hear about Brian (unknown last name) from the men’s basketball team, one of five division one - players nationally to be named to the NABC Give Back team this year. The Give Back Team recognizes student athletes for their outstanding community service. Brian was involved in a healthy Alamance project, Special Olympics, Elon-a-thon, Village Project Tutoring, and several youth local basketball teams. Ericka (unknown last name) on the women’s tennis team who was selected as an institutional female scholar athlete award winner by CAA. Ericka maintains a 3.9 GPA as a bio-chemistry major. She was also selected as a sportsmanship award winner of the Carolina region. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Lambda Upsilon (National Honor Chemistry Honor Society). 00:08:29 So really great examples of all we believe in here at Elon as student athletes. 00:08:40 So to those of you graduating in 12 days, I will shake your hand as you cross the stage. Enjoy these next two weeks and you will go on to be Elon Alumni. 00:08:51 And never forget Elon. Elon will always be your home. And to be honest, we need your passionate skills as alumni, as the same we needed them when you were part of the Phoenix. So stay engaged with the university, your teammates, your coaches, your faculty, mentors, and be active alumni (help the teammates to follow). 00:09:26 You all are the shining examples of the kind of Elon graduates that make the world a better place. Thanks for the last four years. Thanks for all of your leadership. We hate to see you go, but we are proud of you. And for the rest of you, we will see you back again next year – hopefully in the Schar Center and using some of those new facilities. Congratulations for a successful academic year, this year.  Thank you,” stated President Book. 00:10:28 Blank provided additional achievement success of the Elon athletes. 00:19:10 A fall sports video was played. 00:22:30 Elon Student Athletes MC the show. 00:23:45 First sport spoken about was volleyball. 00:25:38 The next team spoken about was the women’s soccer team. Grace Bennett received the MPV award. 00:30:01 Men’s Cross Country team was spoken about. 00:33:21 The student hosts spoke about the football team. The football coach won the “Coach of the Year” in his first year at Elon Curt Cignetti. 00:34:48 Coach Cignetti spoke at the podium about the MPV’s. 00:35:20 An Elon Phoenix video was played for the audience. 00:38:44 Maddie Jaudon and Daniel Thompson spoke on the stage about the winter sports. In addition, they were engaged together. 00:47:52 Jaudon and Thompson mentioned that the basketball teams closed out Alumni Gym after 68 years. 00:50:30 The women’s basketball coach, Charlotte Smith, spoke at the podium. 00:51:50 Kyle Wills presented the service award. The Elon Service Award was presented to Calton (Unknown last name), 2018-2019 SGA President. 00:54:16 A spring sports video was played for the audience. Nick Amczyk and Lauren Brzozowski MC the spring sports announcements. 01:04:25 A funny video was played about competition. 01:14:29 Faith Shearer, spoke of the community service, Special Olympics, adopting families and elderly through Christmas Cheer, tutoring in Alamance Schools as part of the Village Project, and team development. The teams that met all of the above challenges included: Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Women’s soccer, and the Women’s Track and Field Team. Faith asked Eric Hall, Athletics Faculty representative to come forward. Hall presented two unknown named students with the highest GPA and who played two years with the A.L. Hook Scholar Athlete Award. Blank presented the S.H. Basnight Award. 01:26:45 A video was played to finish the Athletics Banquet. Some notable names, Jeanne and Jerry Robertson, Zac and Dot Walker, Maddie Jaudon, Alexa Pavlick, Kodi Garcia, Sue Anderson, Lauren McKeever, Kendall Ballotti, Richie Kasper, Michael Germindario, Colton Lawson, Davis Cheek, Dondre Howell, Zavier Williams, CJ Toogood, Tyler Campbell, Cassandra Borglum, Kendra Holland, Grant Jones, Matt Mehr, Elly Dirks, Brielle Ricciardi, Bryanna Hames, Bre’Anna Warren, Katie Arbogast, Coralea Geraniotis, Collin Luther, Brian Dawkins, Seth Fuller, Shay Burnett, Jada Graves, Lexi Mercer, Malaya Johnson Kara Shutt, Kiandra Mitchum, Kristin Hoover, Tia Mitchell, Jacie Cooper, Kyle Frankel, Neal Port, Felipe Sarrasague, Erica Barschi, Maria Paraja, Olivia Lucas, Graham Hutchinson, William Harwood, Robbie Seebold, Charlie May, Kyle Brnovich, Zach Evers, Jared Wetherbee, and Robbie Welhat.