Beach volleyball earns Director’s Cup during Eagle Scholars Ceremony

Carson-Newman’s beach volleyball team brought home the Director’s Cup at the 10th annual Eagle Scholars Ceremony Tuesday evening at Holt Fieldhouse.

The Director’s Cup is presented to the top academic team on campus which best represents the values espoused by the Eagle Scholars Program as selected by the Eagle Scholars Committee. Previous winners include women’s basketball (2015), baseball (2016), softball (2017), swimming (2018), volleyball (2019), women’s soccer (2020) and women’s track and field (2021).

A whopping 306 Carson-Newman student-athletes were lauded with status as Eagle Scholars at the event. The group represented nearly half of Carson-Newman’s student-athlete population.

The 306 honorees barely edges out the previous record. A total of 305 where recognized last year. It marks a 10th consecutive year of growth since the program began in 2013 with 72 being recognized.

The Eagle Scholars Program recognizes academic achievements among Carson-Newman student-athletes. To become an Eagle Scholar, student-athletes must have a GPA of 3.25 or higher. Eagle Scholars receive a patch to wear on their uniforms during regular season competition. Honorees with a 3.75 receive a gold patch, while those earning 4.0s receive a patch designating them as Platinum Scholars.

Carson-Newman is the only school in the South Atlantic Conference to offer such a program.

It was the teamwork of Gloria Walker and Amy Humphrey, then members of the University’s Student Success Center, that helped to bring the program together in 2013.