Four Brandeis student-athletes have been named to the 2015 University Athletic Association Presidents Council Scholar-Athlete Team. This marks the seventh annual UAA Presidents Council Scholar team, which is comprised of 92 student-athletes from all eight UAA member universities across 12 men’s and 10 women’s sports. In order to qualify for this honor a student-athlete must earn first team All-Association honors and carry a 3.50 or greater cumulative grade point average during the athlete’s season.
Three rising seniors and one recent graduate earned that honor for the Judges. The students-athletes to receive the honor are Noah Berman ’15 from Palo Alto, California; Jake Picard ’16 from Suffield, Connecticut; Mathilde Robinson ’18 of Miami, Florida; and Kelsey Whitaker ’16 of Kingston, Massachusetts.
Noah Berman is a foil fencer for the men’s fencing team. Berman was an NCAA championship qualifier as a junior and tied for the top finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional championships his senior year. In addition to excelling athletically he graduated from Brandeis with a 3.53 GPA and a degree in sociology and minors in business and French and Francophone studies.
Jake Picard was another to receive this honor. As a midfielder for the men’s soccer team, Picard started in all of the 21 games he played in last season, as well as contributing three goals on the season, one of which was a game-winning goal. The men’s soccer team finished their 2014 season with a record of 19-3-1 and reached the quarterfinals in the NCAA Division III tournament, finishing their season in the top eight. Picard has a 3.73 GPA, with a double major in Health: Science, Society and Policy and Psychology.
Mathilde Robinson ’16, a midfielder for the women’s soccer team, started in the 20 games she played in during the season. Robinson, contributing mostly on the defensive end, was part of the 2014 women’s team which reached the second round of the NCAA tournament before elimination, and finished the season with a record of 13-5-2. The women’s soccer team reached the NCAAs for the second time in the 2014 season in three years. Robinson carries a 3.59 GPA as a double major in business and psychology.
As a sophomore, Kelsey Whitaker ’16 reached the NCAA tournament twice, and as a junior participated three times in the NCAA Division III championships. Her junior year, Whitaker ran the 6K at the NCAA championship in cross country, the mile at the NCAA championship for indoor track, and the 1,500-meter run in outdoor track and field. At the outdoor track and field NCAA tournament, Whitaker placed 10th in her heat and 20th overall in the 1,500 meter run. To add to her list of accomplishments, Whitaker was also runner up in the 1,500 meter run at the 2015 ECACs with a personal best of 4:33.19, and the week of May 20 Whitaker was named women’s track athlete of the week. Off the track, Whitaker is a biology and Health: Science, Society and Policy double major with a 3.50 GPA.
These athletes have excelled on and off the field and have earned the honor of each being named one of 92 athletes in the UAA conference to be named to the 2015 University Athletic Association Presidents Council Scholar-Athlete Team.
