WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
GAMBIER, Ohio — Kenyon College senior Emma Becker was one of just 42 collegiate student-athletes awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for fall sports participants. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.
The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually. The one-time, non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 are awarded three times a year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring). Each sports season there are 21 scholarships available for men and 21 scholarships available for women for use in an accredited graduate program.
Becker is the third Kenyon cross country student-athlete to earn the scholarship and the 87th overall recipient for the College. That total ranks as the second-best among all NCAA Division III institutions.
During her experience with the Ladies cross country program, Becker was a two-time team Most Valuable Player, two-time first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference honoree and a two-time All-Region award winner.
During the 2019 season, Becker qualified for the NCAA Championship, placed 32nd among 277 runners and earned All-American status from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Following that, the Ohio Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association named Becker its Ohio NCAA Division III Women’s Runner of the Year.
In the pandemic-riddled 2020 season, Becker was named both an Academic All-District and Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
This past season, Becker placed third at the conference championship and 16th at the regional championship, which again qualified her for nationals, where she placed 104th among 292 runners.
Becker has also been an impact member of the Kenyon track and field program. Specializing in distance events, she’s a two-time team Most Valuable Player and five-time all-conference honoree.
Away from the trails and tracks, Becker is majoring in biochemistry. Her work has led to a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, Kenyon Honor Scholarship, Chemical Rubber Company Chemistry Achievement Award and membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
Her research includes, but is not limited to, work at OSU-Kenyon Pelotonia Cancer Research and work as an intern at MD Anderson Cancer Center. On campus, she’s served as lead tutor and teaching assistant in the Department of Chemistry. She’s also found the time to volunteer with the American Red Cross and locally with KSTEM Mentoring and Knox Community Hospital.
As Becker draws closer to graduation in May, she’s already accepted a job as a chemist at Oakwood Labs, a small pharma company focusing on sustained release drug delivery. She plans to utilize her NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship when she applies for a PhD in biochemistry in the near future.
