![Hollins' Parks Earns Scholar-Athlete Award](/scholar-athletes/2013-14/buttons/14spring-hu-parks.png)
HU Rider Tabbed for ODAC/Farm Bureau Honor
FOREST, Va. --- Hollins University rider
Cecelia Parks is one of 11 student-athletes from Old Dominion
Athletic Conference member schools to earn a 2014
ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award
during the spring athletic schedule. Dickson was tabbed from
a pool of nominees by a vote of each of the conference’s
sports information directors.
The ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar Athlete Award
is given to a student-athlete in each of the conference's
23sponsored sports. Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance is
the presenter of each of the ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau
Insurance Scholar-Athlete Awards, forming a partnership with the
ODAC to emphasize the NCAA Division III philosophy of the complete
student-athlete experience. To be eligible for the award, a
student-athlete must be at least a sophomore standing and have
spent at least one full academic year at the nominating
institution, must maintain at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point
average, and must have participated in at least 50-percent of the
team's events as a starter or key contributor.
Parks, a senior from Bridgewater, Va., maintained a 3.98 grade
point average as a history and political science major while also
working towards a certificate in leadership studies as a
member of the Batten Leadership Institute certificate
program. She has had papers accepted at the Mid-Atlantic Conference
of Undergraduate Studies at Sweet Briar College the past two years.
She also served as Co-President of the Hollins Riding Club.
She studied in London where she interned at the City of
Westminster Archives during the spring of her junior year.
Parks' next step will be pursuing a Master's Degree in
library science with a concentration in archives and records
management at the University of Maryland.
In competition, Parks qualified for IHSA Regionals in the
Novice Equitation over Fences by placing first in the discipline at
the Hollins Fall IHSA Show. She placed second in Intermediate
Equitation over Fences at both the fall and spring Bridgewater IHSA
shows, and added a third place showing in Intermediate Equitation
over Fences at the Hollins Spring IHSA Show. She placed sixth in
Intermediate Equitation over Fences at the Sweet Briar Fall IHSA
Show. At the ODAC Championships, Parks posted a 68.5 average
over two equitation over fences.
"We are proud of the accomplishments of every one of our
student-athletes," says ODAC commissioner Brad Bankston. "It is
especially gratifying to be able to recognize those who personify
the definition of ‘student-athlete' through these awards, and
we are proud to be affiliated with Virginia Farm Bureau
Insurance in this program."
For more information about the ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau
Insurance Scholar-Athlete Awards, visit the ODAC's home on the
Internet at www.odaconline.com.