Athletic Department | 11/30/2016 11:39:00 AM

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Nov. 30, 2016) – Two Drew University student-athletes are being recognized nationally for giving back to surrounding communities.
 
Senior Courtney Trzasko and sophomore Chatham Studer are nominees to the 2017 Allstate NABC-WBCA Good Works Team. The annual honor is a joint effort of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Women's Basketball Coaches Association and Allstate to recognize dedication to service and altruism in student-athletes' communities.
 
This is the second consecutive year Trzasko is a Good Works nominee. The senior is a Drew Civic Scholar with projects focused on hunger and homelessness in local communities. Her senior project includes planning a campus event to raise awareness of the issue, as she also organizes a group of students to volunteer at the Morristown Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center. During her career as a Civic Scholar, she has completed projects with Habitat for Humanity, Furniture Assist and the Madison Area YMCA working with low-income immigrant children in daycare.
 
A two-time Landmark Conference Academic Honor Roll selection off the court, Trzasko continues to maintain a 3.9 GPA while studying business and sociology. On the court, she is just as active, averaging two 3-pointers per game already this season. She has scored 424 points on the strength of 108 three-pointers during her 76-game career.
 
Studer, also a Civic Scholar in The Forest, makes his first appearance on the Good Works Team. During his first year at Drew, he volunteered at Furnishing Solutions, a resale store that directly benefits Morris County's homeless population. In addition, he spent time in New York City with Campus Ministry bringing food to the homeless, and organized a card making event for military veterans. Through his communications with Madison Borough officials to bring veterans to speak on campus, Studer landed a credit-bearing community outreach internship with the borough to be completed this academic year.
 
He has also seen an uptick in court time this season and scored a career-high eight points on 4-of-5 shooting with two blocked shots in Drew's last game at King's (Pa.) College on Nov. 22.
 
Athletic departments and communications professionals across all three divisions of the NCAA and NAIA nominated the 181 NABC and the 97 WBCA student-athletes for the prestigious honor. Two special voting panels, headlined by former Duke University basketball athlete, two-time NCAA champion and seven-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill, and former Notre Dame basketball star, two-time Nancy Lieberman Award winner and current WNBA player Skylar Diggins, will select 10-member teams from both the NABC and WBCA, comprised of five student-athletes from the NCAA Division I level and five student-athletes from Divisions II, III and the NAIA. The final roster of 20 award recipients will be unveiled in February.
 
Members of the Allstate NABC Good Works Team will be invited by Allstate to the 2017 NABC Convention and 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four in Phoenix, where they will participate in a community service project benefitting the city. Members of the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team will be recognized during the 2017 WBCA Convention and at the 2017 NCAA Women's Final Four in Dallas, and will also participate in a volunteer project in the local community. Allstate is an official corporate partner of the NABC, WBCA and NCAA.
 
In addition to Clarkson, Hill and Diggins, the 2017 Allstate NABC and WBCA Good Works Teams selection panel members include: former college basketball student-athletes Clark Kellogg (Ohio State University / CBS Sports), Len Elmore (University of Maryland / CBS Sports / ESPN) and Alana Beard (Duke University); media members Seth Davis (Sports Illustrated / CBS), Dana O'Neil (ESPN), LaChina Robinson (ESPN / FOX) and Brenda VanLengen (ESPN / FOX Sports); former head coaches Bobby Cremins (Georgia Tech / College of Charleston), Seth Greenberg (Virginia Tech University), Marsha Sharp (Texas Tech University) and Nell Fortner (Auburn University); and current coach Coquese Washington (Penn State University).