El Camino College student-athletes show higher academic success compared to non-athletes, the Warrior Athletic Program reported during the May 20 Board of Trustees meeting.
Dean of Health Sciences and Athletics Russell Serr and Athletics Director Jeffrey Miera highlighted that student-athletes had an average GPA 0.22 higher than non-athletes in fall 2022.
While 81% of non-athletes completed a course in fall 2023, student-athletes’ completion rate was 86%, which is 5% higher, according to the Student Services Dashboard.
Board of Trustees Vice President and Acting President Trisha Murakawa said she was “pretty blown away by the accomplishments” after hearing the report.
“I feel kind of emotional and I am so incredibly impressed with their academic performance,” Murakawa said.
Miera also reported to the board the team accomplishments for fall 2023 and spring 2024, including men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, softball, women’s swimming and track and field.
The program has a total of 34 state championships, 160 individual state champions, 97 conference champions and two national champions, Miera said.
There were nine student-athletes introduced in an individual standouts section.
“We had a really tremendous year for our athletic program,” Serr said.
But Serr said every year some athletes are not able to maintain their Student-Athletic Eligibility when they are during the season or between seasons.
One of the requirements for student-athletes is to take part in their practices and competitions by enrolling in the athletic class. Students need to do well in the class to maintain their eligibility to play for El Camino.
The Warrior Athletic program started working with the Student Equity program to start a new strategy this spring semester to make sure those “underprivileged” students are passing their classes and staying in their education plan to maintain their eligibility for sports.
Serr said he wants to increase the rate of eligible student-athletes.
“So next year, I hope to report not only on our great student success but our improvements and hopefully our number of ineligible athletes can come down to zero,” Serr said.
