FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2006
Contact: Ralph Newell, (703) 385-2981, ext. 3013
Hilary Hurd Anyaso, (703) 385-2981, ext. 3044
FAIRFAX, VA.
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Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine has chosen Sarah Lowe, a 5’7” point guard from the University of Florida women’s basketball team, as its female Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year.
It is her performance on and off the court that led Diverse: Issues In Higher Education editors to select Lowe as its female Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year for best exemplifying the high standards of scholarship, athleticism and humanitarianism. Lowe will be featured in the April 6, 2006, edition of Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, along with the male Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year.
Lowe, a political science and Spanish double major with a minor in criminology, has an overall grade point average of 3.88 — rising to 4.0 in upper division courses. She’s been on the Dean’s List since her freshman year and on the President’s List, an honor reserved for students who combine high academic achievement with extracurricular excellence, for four of the last six semesters. Lowe volunteers with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Gainesville, was active in campus voter registration efforts in 2004 as part of the nonpartisan America Coming Together campaign and, in 2005, was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship.
In 1992, Black Issues In Higher Education magazine, now Diverse, established the Sports Scholars Awards to honor undergraduate students of color who exemplify the standards set by tennis great Arthur Ashe Jr.
A scholar and athlete, Ashe sought to expand opportunities for young people. Each year Diverse: Issues In Higher Education invites every postsecondary institution in the country to participate in this awards program by nominating their outstanding sports scholars. In addition to their athletic ability, students named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars must exhibit academic excellence as well as community activism. To be included, students have to compete in an intercollegiate sport; maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2; and be active on their campuses or in their communities. This year approximately 600 male and female student-athletes from across the country were nominated.
