AVC ATHLETES SHINE AS STUDENTS; TWO HONORED WITH STATEWIDE RECOGNITION.Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer Ahead of its time? A pioneer in academics? Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. just likes to think it had a good idea that's been successful in guiding its student-athletes beyond community college. ``It's just something that we've focused on. A lot of schools just won't focus on (academics) as much,'' AVC (1) (Advanced Video Coding) The video compression techniques used in the H.264 standard, jointly developed by ISO and the ITU-T. See H.264. (2) (Audio Visual C athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic Brent Carder said. The Academic Support Plan, born in 1982 and thriving 16 years later, has produced 17 Wilson Scholar Athlete Award winners, an honor that's been given to more Marauders than any other school in the California junior college ranks. But as veteran volleyball coach Jane Cwayna puts it, ``Good students are always going to be good students.'' It's the rest of the athletes who reap the benefits of the school's commitment to academics. Carder, the originator of the plan, was thumbing through a magazine and stumbled onto an idea in the early 1980s. ``There was an article in a journal about an academic program at the University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. , and that's what got us started,'' said Carder, also the school's head football coach. Carder pitched the idea to the administrators, and with the help of head counselor Willard Lewallen, a pilot program was established involving just the Marauders football players. In the spring 1983 semester, Dick Curtis, then an assistant football coach and AVC's head wrestling coach, took over as a full-time academic adviser to the athletic department. Volleyball was added to the curriculum and soon all sports were regulated under Curtis's supervision. ``The coaches always supported us. Our faculty has always supported us. That's why this is a great situation,'' Curtis said. AVC's support program has four basic goals. Simplified, the idea is to make transferring to a four-year school, whether or not it includes athletics, more manageable. To monitor the 275 student-athletes competing in AVC's 10 sports, Curtis teaches four sections of a class known as PE 51R4, a study hall held three times a week. The one-unit course is not mandatory, but the perks (such as early registration priority) encourage nearly every Marauders athlete to enroll. ``The first three weeks is a lecture. We let everyone know graduation requirements, rules for eligibility at the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association level,'' said Curtis, who will retire at the end of this semester. ``Then we are just there to make sure everything is going all right.'' Though she transferred to UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX off a 3.5 grade point average, two-sport standout Angela Davison still found the study hall class valuable. ``(Curtis) keeps everyone on track. Other students who don't have the same support might not take the classes they need to move on,'' said Davison, a softball and volleyball performer for the Marauders who was honored last Saturday for being named a Wilson Scholar Athlete along with track and field star John Sanders John Sanders is the name of
Lance Silvester, a freshman men's basketball player, uses his study hall time wisely. ``It gives me a chance to go in there and study or get some help,'' said Silvester, a native of New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded . ``I like it because they'll tell me what I need to have when I transfer.'' With so many students to monitor, it's rare not to see Curtis meeting with a student-athlete in the athletic offices. ``If we see a problem we try to solve that problem. . . . I like the fact that I can go to a softball or football game and all of the players already know me,'' Curtis said. ``There are some schools where the student-athletes will never meet their academic advisers.'' And that one-on-one training makes AVC somewhat unique compared with other California community colleges. ``It's something that has been noticed by the (administration) across campus,'' Carder said. ``It's something that the college as a whole can point to as a source of pride.'' TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE The following Antelope Valley College athletes have been named Wilson Scholar Athletes. More Marauders (17) have received the award than any other community college in California. Name Sport(s) Year Angela Davison v-ball/softball 96-97 John Sanders track 96-97 Cindy Sims softball 95-96 Kevin Nadonza football 95-96 Joshua Bibby football 94-95 Matthew Losey golf 93-94 Amber Williams track/X-country 93-94 Holly Ludwigtrack/X-country 92-93 Sid Blackwood football 91-92 Cory Rivera tennis 90-91 Monica Harvey track 88-89 Kathy Yost volleyball 87-88 Kevin Curtis For Kevin Curtis, the safety, see . Kevin Deevon Curtis (born July 17, 1978 in Murray, Utah) is an American football wide receiver in the National Football League. He played for the St. (x) football 86-87 Mark Knapp baseball 85-86 Vicki Felix volleyball 85-86 Tim Dewberry dewberry, name for several species of the genus Rubus of the family Rosaceae (rose family). See bramble. dewberry Any blackberry (genus Rubus) that is so lacking in woody fibre in the stems that it trails along the ground. football 84-85 John Vignoni football 83-84 (x) Also named male scholar-athlete of the year by the State of California Wilson Scholar Athlete Awards by school (Award inaugurated in 1984): Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley 17, Los Medanos 11, American River
see Wessex saddleback. 9, Mt. SAC 9, Cabrillo 9, Siskiyous 8, El Camino 8, Butte Butte, city, United States Butte (by  t), city (1990 pop. 33,336), seat of Silver Bow co., SW Mont.; inc. 1879. It is a trade, ranching, and industrial center. 7. CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO Angela Davison, left, receives her Wilson scholar-athlete award from volleyball coach Jane Cwayna. Tom Mendoza/Daily News BOX: TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE (see text) |
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