Annalise Schroeder, Louis Corcoran named 2016 UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award winners
ST. PAUL, Minn.---Among a field of 17 talented and dedicated Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) senior student-athletes recognized as finalists for the 2016 Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award, two individuals have set themselves apart from the rest through consistent success on and off the field of competition.
Annalise Schroeder of North Central University and Louis Corcoran of Northland College have been selected as the winners of the 2016 UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award, the conference office announced Wednesday.
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Through this award, the UMAC recognizes the role athletics plays in developing leaders by rewarding athletes' excellence in the classroom as well as service to the community. The honor is awarded annually to one male and one female graduating senior from UMAC member-institutions.
Schroeder and Corcoran emerged from a
group of finalists that demonstrates a healthy balance by achieving excellence in academics, leadership, and service while participating in intercollegiate athletics. Finalists for each institution were nominated and selected by the UMAC Faculty Athletics Representatives.
"The UMAC is honored to recognize Annalise and Louis as our 2016 UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award honorees," UMAC Commissioner Corey Borchardt said. "These individuals have achieved exceptional accomplishments in athletics, academics, and in campus and community pursuits. Further, Annalise and Louis have both demonstrated a high level of leadership capability and dedication to serving others through numerous avenues. Annalise and Louis truly exemplify the NCAA Division III philosophy and UMAC core values as they both serve as great representatives of the type of student-athletes the UMAC is proud to feature."
Annalise Schroeder, North Central University
Throughout her four years as a student-athlete at North Central, Schroeder has distinguished herself through her dedication to a number of different areas of academics as well as athletics and campus life. As a four-year member and two-year captain of the Rams’ cross country team, Schroeder has demonstrated leadership through success on the course and a positive attitude.
“Whether or not you are a captain on the team, everyone contributes as a leader,” Schroeder said. “Even though (cross country) is more individual, you learn how to work together, work with one another and serve as a leader. It’s really all about attitude, and respect and encouraging one another every day in practice and in races.”
On the competition course, Schroeder earned All-UMAC cross country honors three times and finished in the top 10 at the UMAC Championships in three of her four seasons. As a rookie in 2012, Schroeder placed fifth individually and led the Rams to a third-place team finish. She capped off an incredible career with a seventh-place finish this fall as the top Rams finisher at the UMAC meet.
In the classroom, Schroeder has been just as impressive maintaining a 3.811 grade point average (GPA) as an American Sign Language Interpreting and deaf culture studies major. Schroeder will finish her program in seven semesters after taking the 2014 spring session off to volunteer at the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf in Kingston, Jamaica, assisting teachers and tutoring students. She has also served as president of Deaf Culture Ministies and director of the Deaf Culture Fellowship at North Central for the last two years implementing programs to promote interactions for deaf students on campus.
With limited opportunities to engage with her area of study on campus, Schroeder has taken initiative to serve the deaf community and organizations off campus. Schroeder has served as an interpreter with Family Retreat for Deaf Ministries of Minnesota for the last two years, as well as volunteered over 100 hours with Communication Service for the Deaf training, developing and presenting workshops for domestic violence issues for the deaf. She has also volunteered with numerous other groups to utilize her skills to serve the deaf.
For Schroeder, finding a balance between athletics, academics and her other commitments has come from discipline but also a passion for what she does. “(Finding balance) has taken a lot of discipline and intentionality and hard work,” Schroeder said. “I’ve realized that if I care about something enough, I will make it work with my schedule, but it does require a lot of discipline and learning how to say ‘no’ and learning how to prioritize."
Following graduation, Schroeder plans to remain in the Twin Cities to seek work as an ASL interpreter. She intends to pursue and receive her master’s degree within five years and would like to pioneer research in the ASL interpreting field.
Louis Corcoran, Northland College
During his four years as a student-athlete at Northland, Corcoran has managed to balance rigorous research-based academic opportunities with pursuit of athletics as well as heavy involvement in the campus community. For Corcoran, though, athletics has served as a driver for his success during his time at Northland.
“I’ve always prided myself in academics, and I’ve always kind of had athletics as a secondary thing that was just kind of a driver for me,” said Corcoran. “So, to balance the two has never really been hard. It’s taken a lot of focus for me to make sure I don’t neglect either one of them, and in that case, I’ve ended up succeeding in both.”
Corcoran has certainly found success in athletics as a four-year standout for the cross country team at Northland. He has twice finished in the top 20 at the UMAC Championships and placed 10th in 2014 to earn All-UMAC honors – a goal he set early in his career. During his senior season, Corcoran severed as team captain and earned the UMAC Sportsmanship Award.
As a chemistry and math double major, Corcoran has recorded a 3.86 GPA and earned respect in the chemistry field through his research. Corcoran served as lead author on a study submitted for publication with the
Journal of American Chemical Society and has also presented and earned awards for his poster presentations at several prestigious symposiums in Wisconsin. Additionally, Corcoran has worked as a teaching assistant in the chemistry department and an academic tutor in the areas of chemistry, physics and statistics.
Beyond athletics and academics, Corocran has immersed himself into other areas of campus life through club and association leadership. He has been a three-year member of the Northland Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) serving once as secretary and once as co-chair. Corcoran is also a student representative on the Northland Athletic Advisory Board. For three years, Corcoran has worked as a resident assistant – which has included time during the summers. He has also been an active and organizing member of the Northland math and Nordic ski clubs.
Though Corcoran has enjoyed success in all areas of life during his time at Northland, he has humbly admitted that what he has enjoyed most is the time spent with people during his time as a student-athlete. “I’ve enjoyed the people that I’ve met and the time that I’ve spent with them through athletics,” said Corocran. “Obviously, competing is good… but I will never forget the conversations I have had on long runs or the fun days at practice where we did our workouts and still had fun doing them.”
Corcoran will attend the University of Minnesota to pursue his doctorate in chemistry following graduation from Northland. Following completion of his program there, Corcoran would like to pursue research and development in chemistry and potentially explore teaching in the field.
Schroeder and Corcoran will receive a commemorative plaque with their name engraved on it. Together, they become the ninth group to win the UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award since its inception in 2008.
Past UMAC Scholar-Athlete Leadership Award winners:
2015 – Sutton Rehwalt (North Central University), Olivia Krejcarek (College of St. Scholastica)
2014 – Brendan Foss (University of Minnesota Morris), Krista Stoltz (University of Northwestern), Abby Fragodt (University of Minnesota Morris)
2013 – Brett Tester (College of St. Scholastica), Kali Cordes (University of Minnesota Morris)
2012 – Brady Giffith (Crown College), Joelle Pipal (Bethany Lutheran College)
2011 – Toby Peter (College of St. Scholastica), April Cook (Martin Luther College)
2010 – Nick Olson (Northwestern College), Maddy Gerber (University of Minnesota Morris)
2009 – Zach Marshall (Northwestern College), Eva Voss (Bethany Lutheran College)
2008 – Nathan Nass (Martin Luther College), Christopher Rubesch (College of St. Scholastica), Kristin Scislow (Bethany Lutheran College)