Radford University senior women’s soccer player and Honors College student, Jessica Wollmann, has been named the 2019 Virginia Collegiate Honors Council (VCHC) Scholar of the Year.
The prestigious award is presented to a student from a member institution that successfully embodies the scholarship, character, and ambition associated historically with honors students and VCHC.
“I am very honored,” Wollmann said. “Everything that I do and every reward that I receive, I’m always grateful for the recognition. I often go through periods where I’m really stressed about something and I ask myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ or ‘Why am I always so busy?’ Receiving a recognition like this makes me remember that others do realize that I put in a lot of work to do the things that I do and do them successfully. It’s all been worth it. High risk, but high reward.”
Wollmann, who helped lead the Highlanders to the 2018 Big South Championship, has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average as an Anthropological Studies major at Radford.
This past fall, Wollmann was also named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District First Team.
Wollmann put together a stellar year both on the field and in the classroom, earning Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year, First Team All-Big South and Big South All-Academic Team honors. She was also named a Senior CLASS Award Top 10 Finalist.
The Blacksburg native tallied a career high eight goals, while logging 1,451 minutes in 19 starts. She ranked third in the Big South in shots and game-winning goals, fourth in points and points per game and seventh in goals per game.
Wollmann was also named a 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District First Teamer and is the only player to earn Academic All-District honors twice. She is still only the second member of the Radford women’s soccer program to earn the First Team distinction. Prior to her 2017 honors, Rachel Conway notched first team honors in 2013. Jevne Reid (2nd Team, 2002), Kelly Bertwell (2nd Team, 2002) and Jill Boyer (3rd Team, 2008) have also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors.
Niels Christensen, director of the Honors College and longtime mentor of Wollmann, said he is proud of her many outstanding accomplishments.
“With Jessi moving on to a doctoral program in anthropology, winning the VCHC Honors Scholar of the Year is the perfect capstone on an amazing undergraduate career,” he said. “As I told the award committee, Jessi is a once-in-a-generation talent when it comes to student- athletes. But, she is also the quintessential honors student, with unbounded curiosity. We’re so proud to have her recognized as the top honors student in the Commonwealth.”
The VCHC, now more than twenty-five years old, joins universities, colleges, and community colleges throughout Virginia and West Virginia to support and enhance programs and activities to meet the needs of exceptionally talented and motivated students.
–RU Athletics
