March 31, 2010
(release courtesy of Mark Adkins, Wartburg College sports information director)

WAVERLY, IOWA . . . Wartburg College Director of Athletics Rick Willis announced Tuesday, March 30, that the athletic department has earned an NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference Recognition Award. The award is sponsored by the Division III governance staff, according to a release sent out by the NCAA.

According to the release, the purpose of the award is “to recognize institutions that have successfully completed action plans that impacted the collective good of the community; students, athletes, staff and citizens of the community.” After a review of the Action Plan Updates from the institutions attending the 2009 NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in Chicago, Wartburg was selected as the second winner.

The governance staff pointed to the Kids Day N’ Knights program, co-developed by senior women’s track and field athlete Hannah Baker of Keota and senior baseball pitcher Billy Schmitt of Farley and supervised by head women’s soccer coach Sara Johnson, as a “wonderful example of how your student-athletes were successful in impacting the collective good of the community.”

-30-