Chico State's Joshua Curls and Wyatt Baxter are two of only three California Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes to earn the NCAA Division II Degree Completion Award for 2021–22.
Like so many student-athletes these days, they each have unfinished business. This $7,000 award, given to only 75, will help them finish it.
Curls plans to graduate in the spring of 2022 and pursue a master's degree or attend law school. Originally scheduled to graduate this spring with a bachelor's degree in public administration, Baxter will now finish in the fall with two degrees, tacking on a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.
"I'm very excited for Wyatt and Josh to receive the prestigious NCAA Degree Completion Award," said Chico State Director of Athletics Anita Barker. "This awards program is always very competitive amongst Division II institutions. For a student-athlete to receive this award is acknowledgment of their hard work and dedication to their academic and athletic careers. Josh and Wyatt are both very deserving. As an athletic program, having two students awarded in one year is a testament to our overall commitment to student success. It's something we all can be very proud of."
A member of the Chico State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Curls was a 2019–20 National Basketball Coaches Association Honors Court recipient and also earned CCAA All-Academic honors.
"It's an honor to be the recipient of this NCAA Completion Award," said Curls. "This past year has been very difficult for a multitude of reasons, and it's nice to be recognized for my hard work on the court and in the classroom.
"I want to thank Shannon Hall for thinking so highly of me and making the nomination. She, along with my coaches and the rest of the athletic administration, has helped make my journey through Chico State smooth and enjoyable, and I am very grateful."
Baxter was the cross country program's nominee for the CCAA Championship Scholar Award in the fall for having the team's highest cumulative GPA. He is also one of 13 student-athletes in the nation to earn back-to-back NCAA Division II Cross Country All-America honors in 2018 and 2019.
"It was really touching to have the Athletics department choose me as a representative for the award," Baxter said. "Just to know that as a collective I was one of the few chosen out of all of our wonderful and amazing student-athletes to even attempt the scholarship was exciting.
"I wasn't sure what the NCAA would think of my resume, so just knowing that a committee chose me out of I'm sure hundreds, if not thousands, of people who applied was humbling. I am very grateful and owe a lot to Chico State and especially Chico State Athletics, so to have them think of me to represent them in a new way, and to actually earn an award, I cannot really express my shock to being chosen, and the feeling of elation I get from all that it means to me."
The NCAA established the Division II Degree Completion Award Program in 2001 to provide deserving student-athletes financial assistance for them to complete their first baccalaureate degree. Candidates will be students who have exhausted their athletics eligibility.
To date, nearly $6 million has been given to approximately 1,400 deserving student-athletes.
