FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2006
Contact: Ralph Newell, (703) 385-2981, ext. 3013
Hilary Hurd Anyaso, (703) 385-2981, x3044
FAIRFAX, VA. —
Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine has chosen David Castillo, a member of the Florida State University football team, as its male Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year.
Castillo, a 6’2, 304 pound center for the Florida State Seminoles, has earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science and is currently working on a second degree and preparing to take the medical school entrance exam (MCAT). With a 4.0 fall GPA and cumulative GPA of 3.5, he won the FSU 2005 Golden Torch Award for having the highest GPA on the football team and is only the second player in FSU history to have followed a pre-med curriculum.
It is his performance on and off the field that led Diverse: Issues In Higher Education editors to select Castillo as its male Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year for best exemplifying the high standards of scholarship, athleticism and humanitarianism. Castillo will be featured in the April 6, 2006, edition of Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, along with the female Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar of the Year, Sarah Lowe, a point guard for the University of Florida women’s basketball team.
In 1992, Black Issues In Higher Education, now Diverse, established the Sports Scholars Award 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 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.
Past male recipients of the award have included the University of Kansas’ Jacque Vaughn who now plays for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets (1996) and last year’s male scholar of the year Chris Hill, who helped the Michigan State University Spartans basketball team return to the NCAA’s Sweet Sixteen.
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