The National Junior College Athletic Association awards student-athletes who excel in the classroom. Whitney Smith of the North Platte Community College Volleyball was added to the list of Award Winners. Her 3.82 GPA earns her the NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Achievement. She joins Ben Wilson of the Men’s Basketball Team who earned the NJCAA Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence and Tiffany Brasby of the Softball Team who earned the NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Achievement earlier this month.

Over 1,600 NJCAA student-athletes met the requirements for individual academic honors, including 169 that earned the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence (4.0 GPA). Superior Academic Achievement (3.8+ GPA) honors went to 592 student-athletes and over 900 met the standard for Exemplary Academic Achievement (3.6+ GPA).

This season, close to 60,000 student-athletes competed in the NJCAA across 3,500 teams in 28 different sports.

Smith of Wallace earned the NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Achievement with her 3.82 GPA. The award is given to students who finish with a GPA between 3.80 to 3.99. Smith led the Lady Knights with 293 kills on the season.  Smith had a serving percentage of 89.9 percent and contributed 233 digs for the Lady Knights who finished with a 20-18 record.