During the 2010-2011 academic year, 32 Eastern student athletes received a 4.0 GPA and were awarded the Ohio Valley Conference Medal of Honor.

This is the highest number of OVC Medal of Honor winners since Eastern joined the OVC in 1996.

A total of 164 students from 11 schools earned the OVC Medal of Honor and Eastern had the highest total awardees, making up 19 percent.

During the Sept. 16 Board of Trustees meeting, the board approved the motion to review and complete the OVC Governing Board Certification Form after a presentation by athletic director Barbara Burke.

Burke said they have several principles they try to live by in the athletic department, the most important being academics.

“Our goal for academics is to average a 3.0 grade point average,” Burke said. “And we have reached an average 3.15 GPA for both our men’s and women’s teams.”

She said in addition to the 32 student athletes receiving the OVC Medal of Honor, 140 student athletes were named to the Commissioner’s Honor Role, which means their GPA was a 3.25 or higher.

“This number reflects the highest number selected within the Ohio Valley Conference,” Burke said.

She said the student athletes completed more than 260 hours of community service in various projects throughout Coles County.

The community service activities include volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, the Big Brothers-Big Sisters program and the Special Olympics.

Burke also discussed the aspect of competitive excellence.

“We had five teams that won OVC championships this past year,” she said. “In addition, for the second year in a row, EIU won the OVC Commissioner’s Cup, which is the highest award presented for athletic achievement.”

The five teams that won OVC championships are men’s and women’s indoor track, men’s and women’s outdoor track and women’s softball.

Eastern has also maintained its certification by the National Collegiate Athletic Association among 26 NCAA Division 1 institutions.

Burke said they set a goal last year to reach 2,010 Panther Club members by the year 2010.

“We went from 1,361 members to more than 2,100 members, which was an increase of 57 percent from our original members,” Burke said. “In addition to that, that percent resulted in a net increase of 46 percent of finances, so this growth helped our resources to grow in the Panther Club.”

She said they managed to raise more than $200,000 at the February Athletic Director’s Gala, which achieved additional resources for their legacy program.

“Following that up in April we had our annual Spring Fling, which is our fundraising event for scholarships for student athletes, and we achieved our goal of more than $99,000,” Burke said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].