Junior goalkeeper Luz Galindo of the Missouri Southern women's soccer team has been selected to represent the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) at the Student-Athlete Leadership Forum this April in Orlando, Florida.
It came down to three nominees out of ten student-athletes from MIAA member schools who submitted applications for the role and the Arizona native outlasted them all beating out Emporia State's Gary Woods and Lindenwood's Allyson Clancy for the honor of establishing what the Association is all about among other representatives at the Division I, II, and III levels.
"There are so many other student-athletes that had many more accolades than I have in athletics and school wise, so it's pretty cool to show case some of the small things that I have done here and hopefully make a bigger impact when I get back," Galindo explained.
The NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum engages a diverse and dynamic representation of student-athletes, coaches, faculty and administrators. Student-athletes selected to attend the forum return to campus with invaluable leadership skills, the experience of exploring the relationship between personal values, core beliefs and behavioral styles, and a thorough understanding of the NCAA as a whole, the different divisional perspectives and the valuable role of Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC).
"She is an Honor's student, Omicron Delta Kappa member, is our starting goalkeeper, and is involved in a variety of clubs on campus. She is involved in almost everything she can be involved in here at MSSU and represents the University in an incredible way," said Head women's soccer coach Chris McNaughton. "In my opinion she is Ms. MSSU."
A two-time MIAA honor roll recipient, Galindo has registered 40 starts in 46 games played in her three seasons thus far between the posts for the soccer team. She has recorded 203 saves towards .784 save percentage and a 1.29 goals against average while compiling 14 shutouts, including a season-high six during the 2017 campaign that led the Lions their first MIAA tournament berth in five years (2012) as the fifth seed and a first-round matchup against Fort Hays State.
Now, instead of coming up in the biggest moments for MSSU on the field, the three-year letter winner has the chance to insert both her University and the MIAA into the "Limelight" of Division II athletics for six whole days (April 10-15) and beyond.
"We get to showcase not only the athletics side but a lot of the outside stuff that not only has SAAC done but all of the athletic teams together as one which is pretty awesome." Galindo replied.
The Leadership Forum, created in 1997, has been a life-changing experience for more than 5,000 student-athletes, many who have grown personally and professionally, gained a new network of peers and friends, as well as felt the rewards and importance of community service.
Below are the criteria that each student-athlete must abide by to be considered.
Criteria
Divisional Participation:
Each Division II conference office will select three (3) student-athletes from among their member schools and one (1) administrator from the conference office to attend.Additional Requirements:
One female student-athlete and one male student-athlete. (Single-gender institutions may nominate same gender student-athletes)
Division I and Division II conference offices will select a conference office administrator to attend.
It is strongly encouraged that at least one of the participants is a person of color or international representative (international status based on country of primary citizenship).
All student-athletes in attendance must have athletic eligibility and be participating in a NCAA sponsored sport during the 2018-19 academic year.
Student-athlete participants must represent different NCAA-sponsored sports (i.e. if you submit a male basketball student-athlete, you are unable to submit a female basketball student-athlete).
Participant Eligibility Requirements:
A student-athlete participant must have athletics eligibility and be participating in a NCAA-sponsored sport during the 2018-19 academic year.
A student-athlete participant must be in good academic standing according to the institutional requirements.
All participants must have demonstrated the ability or a strong desire to lead.
All participants selected are expected to participate in all activities.
No comments:
Post a Comment