INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Kyle
Boden, the standout quarterback for the Emory & Henry
College football team, has been selected to receive one of the top
scholar-athlete awards from the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA).
Boden, who graduated from Emory & Henry this past Saturday, has
been awarded the prestigious Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship.
The award is given annually to one male and one female who are
selected from among the more than 1,100 member institutions across
all three NCAA divisions.
"It is an honor to represent Emory & Henry – a Division
III school with 1,000 students – on a national stage with a
number of qualified finalists," Boden said. "I
have been accepted to medical school at East Tennessee State
University and have applied to the University of Tennessee, so this
scholarship will help with the cost of school and hopefully allow
me to take advantage of medical mission work, which I have always
wanted to do."
Named for the first executive director of the NCAA, the award
provides $48,000 toward a master's degree at the recipient's
college of choice. Boden is the only the second Old Dominion
Athletic Conference student-athlete to be named a Byers Scholar and
the first ODAC male. In 2007, Katie Kingsbury of the Washington and
Lee University's women's tennis team earned the scholarship.
In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Boden was a two-time
winner of the ODAC's Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award,
a two-time Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America Second-Teamer,
and was named Academic All-District for three years. The Knoxville,
Tenn., native was picked as the 2013-14 winner of the Porterfield
Memorial Award, which recognizes an outstanding male senior who has
distinguished himself in athletics and leadership while at
E&H.
"In talking with colleagues about Kyle's potential nomination for
the Walter Byers Scholarship, a common theme was his classroom
leadership," said Professor Scott
Ambrose, E&H's Faculty Athletic
Representative. "What impressed me the most was the high
praise that Kyle received even from instructors outside of his area
of concentration. He helped professors to foster a classroom
environment with active discussion and participation from all
students."
A biology major and chemistry minor, Boden was the College's first
Rhodes Scholar finalist in 109 years. The Rhodes Scholarship is
commonly considered the world's most prestigious postgraduate
grant, as it provides 32 recipients annually with an opportunity to
study at Oxford University in England.
"I hope to one day start my own non-profit organization and help
address the orthopaedic need in developing
nations," added Boden. "When I was interviewing
for the Rhodes Scholarship, I learned that Oxford has a
multi-tiered training program for orthopaedic medicine in West,
Central and Southern Africa, so that spurred my goal to start my
own non-profit."
To read the NCAA's official release about the 2014 Walter Byers
Scholarship, please click HERE.
--- This release is
courtesy of the Emory & Henry College sports information
department. ---
www.gowasps.com