UOIT STUDENT-ATHLETES EARN PROVINCIAL RECOGNITION

OSHAWA, Ont. -­ The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) is proud to announce that student-athletes Christine Pyatt (Bowmanville, Ont.), Michael Bissonnette (Sarnia, Ont.), Jessica Bosse (Whitby, Ont.), Jay Gill (Brampton, Ont.) and Ian Ngaira (Nairobi, Kenya) have been recognized as 2008-09 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) all-academic award recipients.

This is the highest number of athletes receiving the award for UOIT, as four student-athletes achieved the honour in 2007-08 and two in 2006-07.

The OUA all-academic award recognizes a student's dedication and commitment to sport as well as his or her outstanding grade point average (GPA) and commitment to academics. To receive this award, students must be enrolled in full-time courses, compete full-time on a varsity team (non CIS Sport) and be able to maintain a minimum 3.7 GPA.

"I could not be prouder of the five recipients who earned this prestigious award," said UOIT athletic director Ken Babcock. "All of our student-athletes work very hard to achieve academic and athletic excellence. It is great to have such amazing individuals represent UOIT."

All five recipients of this year's award were members of the 2008-09 varsity rowing crew.

"It is great to see the athletes on our crew recognized for their academic achievements," said UOIT rowing head coach Rob Millikin. "To compete on the provincial stage and maintain top grades in the classroom, it shows what type of individuals we have in our program."

2008-09 OUA ALL-ACADEMIC AWARD WINNERS
Christine Pyatt - Criminology
Michael Bissonnette – Forensic Science
Jessica Bosse – Health Science
Jay Gill – Health Science
Ian Ngaira – Health Science

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks