HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – With the close of the 2021-22 campaign, the Alabama A&M Sports Information Office is counting down the Top-10 stories from the campaign throughout the summer. Today, we continue the No. 2 story of the season - Bulldogs Make History With Record Academic Achievements.
 
Make sure to check www.AAMUSports.com every Friday to catch the latest release.
 
Story No. 2: Bulldogs Make History With Record Academic Achievements
Alabama A&M succeeded not only on the fields, courts, courses and tracks but also in the classroom – with the latter coming in historic proportions.
 
The bulk of those awards came from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as the Bulldogs continued to make history. Headlining those honors would be women's basketball's Dariauna Lewis (Omaha, Neb.) earning Second-Team Academic All-America recognition.
 
It would make her the first female student-athlete to repeat following her Third-Team honor in 2020-21 and only the second individual to do so in program history. With the latter she joins Alabama A&M Hall of Famer and record-setting quarterback Tracy Kendall who earned First-Team honors in 1989-90 and 1990-91. She is also only the third individual to rake in Second-Team honors among the program's seven selections in the 70-years of the award.
 
Lewis would also be among a program record four CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees throughout the year. That would be a stretch that would begin with Arielle Fortune becoming the first women's soccer player to earn the award with football's Abdul-Fatai Ibrahim picking up the first of his career.
 
History would be made in one fell swoop with Lewis and men's basketball's Garrett Hicks (Madison, Ala.) both earning Academic All-District honors on February 17.
 
Not only was it the first time that two Bulldogs have earned the honor at the same time, Hicks' selection was the first in the history of the men's basketball program and both were the only members from a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) to be named among the combined 93 honorees nationwide.
 
Those would not be the only individuals to earn specialty awards as women's tennis' Jasmine Boyd (Marion, Ind.) earned a prestigious SMART Scholarship from the Department of Defense while women's soccer's Taylor Stokes (Katy, Texas) was one of 20 student-athletes representing 15 schools to be chosen to be part of the Women's Sports Foundation and NBC Sports Group mentoring program.
 
Several teams would also bring home academic honors as a group and individuals as men's tennis and women's tennis collected Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Scholar-Athlete and Team Academic recognition while bowling earned National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Team and Individual All-Academic recognition.
 
As is always the case, though, the most important academic achievement for any student-athlete is to earn their degree and graduate – which 44 individuals did during the 2021-22 campaign. A total of 10 current or former student-athletes did just that in the fall with another 34 individuals achieving that goal in May.
 
All of these accomplishments in the classroom go to highlight Alabama A&M's consistent goal of putting the "student" part of student-athlete first – and that to a program these individuals have bought in and now bring home national honors every year as a result.
 
The Schedule
Every Friday throughout the Summer and leading up to the 2022-23 preseason, the SID Office will release the list one at a time beginning with the No. 10 story on June 3. The No. 1 story in Alabama A&M Athletics, as chosen by the Sports Information Office, will be released on Friday, August 5.
 
Countdown to the Top-10 Alabama A&M Athletics Stories from 2021-22
No. 1 – Coming August 5
No. 2 – Bulldogs Make History With Record Academic Achievements (July 29)
No. 3 – Football Returns To Louis Crews Amid Thrilling Campaign (July 22)
No. 4 – Bulldogs Bring Home Bevy of Awards (July 15)
No. 5 – McLaren Delivers Titles as Men's Track & Field Returns to SWAC Championships (July 8)
No. 6 – Men's Basketball Delivers Impressive Historical Season (July 1)
No. 7 – Women's Basketball and Lewis Attack the Record Books (June 24)
No. 8 – Bowling and Men's Golf Net Honors Not Seen In Years (June 17)
No. 9 – Baseball Delivers Strong Efforts In 2022 Campaign (June 10)
No. 10 – Men's Tennis Delivers Impressive Accolades (June 3)
Honorable Mention (May 27)