[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/05scholarawards.jpg” caption=”Peg Kelly, sister of the late Mary Keyes, left, and Madge Kennedy, the wife of the late Jack Kennedy, right, are pictured with award recipients Carly Thompson and Christian van der Pol.”]McMaster celebrated the academic accomplishments of its student-athletes Sunday at the ninth annual Marauder Scholar Brunch held as a part of McMaster Alumni Weekend.

In 2004/2005, McMaster established a new benchmark with 299 student-athletes (38 per cent) achieving a minimal sessional average of 9.5 (out of 12) – or 80 per cent.

This compares to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) reports that show that 20 per cent of CIS student-athletes achieve 80 per cent or greater in the classroom.

As a part of the celebration, McMaster recognized the top female and male scholar-athletes.

Carly Thompson is the 2005 Dr. Mary Keyes Award winner as the top female scholar-athlete. Thompson is a second-year medical student and four-time Marauder Scholar. In 2004/2005 she was the recipient of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Academic Achievement Award and winner of the Golden Key International Honour Society, Scholastic Excellence Award.

Thompson is a player-coach of the McMaster women's squash team where she was the recipient of an OUA Second Team All-Star award.

Christian van der Pol is the 2005 Dr. Jack Kennedy Award winner as the top male student-athlete. Van der Pol is a second-year electrical and biomedical engineering student and two-time Marauder Scholar. In 2003/2004 he was a CIS Academic All-Canadian and in 2004/2005 was the winner of the Golden Key International Honour Society, Scholastic Excellence Award. Van der Pol is a member of the men's swim team where he was named the McMaster Rookie of the Year and team captain for 2005/2006.

Peter George, president and vice-chancellor of McMaster commented that, “no one invests more of themselves in our University than our scholar-athletes. McMaster student-athletes make a vital contribution to our mission of achieving international distinction for creativity, innovation, and excellence.”

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