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Watkins Earns NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship - 08/07/09

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ATH09_029_WatkinsBen_TBen Watkins Earns NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
     08/07/09...Former Pitt-Johnstown All-American pitcher Ben Watkins (Tire Hill, Pa.) has been chosen as a recipient of a 2009 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.  Watkins is just the fourth Pitt-Johnstown student-athlete to receive this prestigious scholarship.  The scholarship provides financial assistance for a student-athlete to attend graduate school.
     Watkins, a First-Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, was a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Male-Scholar Athlete in 2009.  He currently has a 3.9 grade-point-average in Electrical Engineering Technology.  Watkins is scheduled to earn his degree from Pitt-Johnstown in 2010.
     Athletically, Watkins was the 2009 WVIAC Pitcher of the Year on his way to leading NCAA Division II in earned-run-average and being named a Third-Team All-American.  He was drafted in the 40th round of June's Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees.  Watkins is currently pitching for the Class A Staten Island Yankees in the New York-Penn League.
     Previous Pitt-Johnstown recipients of a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship include:  Tony Albertelli (wrestling, 1997), Lindsay Baker (women’s basketball, 2002) and Melissa Patterson (women’s basketball, 2005). 
     Each sports season (fall, winter and spring), there are 29 scholarships available for men and 29 scholarships available for women across all three NCAA divisions.  The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.  Athletic and academic achievements, as well as campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership, are evaluated.
     In maintaining the highest broad-based standards in the selection process, the program aims to reward those individuals whose dedication and effort are reflective of those characteristics necessary to succeed and thrive through postgraduate study in an accredited graduate degree program.
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