WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – For the sixth time in the past 10 years, a Lycoming College student-athlete has been recognized with a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, as wrestler Preston Rogers '23 (Towanda, Pa./Towanda Area) has earned the award.
 
Rogers is Lycoming's sixth NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner since 2014, the most amongst Middle Atlantic Conference schools. Rogers joins a group that includes Justin Walker '14 (soccer), Sam Dressler '18 (football), Brandon Conrad '18 (wrestling), Nick Russello '20 (lacrosse) and Luke Jordan '22 (soccer).
 
"To see the success that we have had in garnering recipients is more than a little humbling, and it speaks to both what a great place Lycoming is and what great people we have attracted to this College," Director of Athletics Mike Clark '93 said. "Preston is a tremendous student and he will be a great doctor. He is absolutely a model for what we want our student-athletes to aspire to in the classroom and in the community. I am incredibly grateful for the leadership that Associate Director of Athletics Joe Guistina, Dr. Sue Beidler, who retired as our faculty athletics representative in 2020, and Dr. John Whelan, our current FAR, have provided our student-athletes as they have completed their nominations."
 
The six honorees in the past 10 years is also the most amongst any Landmark Conference institutions, which Lycoming officially joined on July 1.
 
Rogers will use the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship at the Penn State College of Medicine in University Park, beginning work on his doctorate this summer.
 
"Wrestling has shaped both my character and my future career desires as a physician," Rogers said. "Wrestling and medicine are challenging paths to take in life, yet the lessons learned from one can be used to excel in the other. I plan to utilize the dedication and perseverance learned from wrestling, along with the scientific knowledge gained from my experiences, to thrive as a physician and treat my future patients with a holistic approach."
 
Rogers went 15-8 as a senior with three technical falls, one major decision, and two pins at 165 pounds, finishing his career 34-27 with eight pins, five technical falls, and three major decisions. He is one of seven Academic All-Americans from the wrestling program, earning third-team honors in June.
 
"I was excited when Preston came to Lycoming to have someone so enthusiastic, competent, efficient, and knowledgeable wrestling for me," Lycoming head wrestling coach Roger Crebs '87 said. "His leadership in the classroom and in the wrestling room is outstanding. Preston is confident, dependable, well organized, and highly motivated. These are valuable skills that make great professionals."
 
Rogers was involved in numerous community service projects on and off campus, including working as a lab assistant for Mary Morrison, Ph.D., in her research lab.
 
"Preston has a deep, genuine passion for learning how biological systems work," Morrison said. "He is a patient and constructive team leader, and a budding translational science researcher. His mind is alive and curious, and he's always thinking about clinical applications of basic science concepts."
 
He also volunteered more than 80 hours in UPMC's emergency department in Williamsport.
 
"I met Preston in 2021 when he came to us looking for an opportunity to serve, learn and explore the environment of the UPMC Emergency Department Care," UPMC Administrative Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator Betty Dersham said. "Our 24/7 Emergency Department can be very fast-paced and is often busy. Preston was a great fit here, he did not mind that many days seemed like organized chaos. Preston had been known to take time to connect with the patients and families here in our department. He communicates and listens carefully. When seeing a need he was able to meet, he never hesitated."
 
He also participated in several service-learning opportunities, studying in the Microbial Friends and Foes Research Experience in the Rudd Lab at Cornell University over the summer of 2022, and working as a Personal Care Aide/Med Tech at the Towanda Personal Care Home where he provided care to over 75 residents.
 
The biology: anatomy and physiology major earned the College's highest honor, the Chieftain Award, given to a graduating senior who has contributed the most to Lycoming College through support of school activities, has exhibited utmost dedication and outstanding leadership qualities, has evidenced good moral character, and whose academic rank is above the median of the preceding senior class.
 
Rogers earned a spot on Lycoming College's dean list and the Scholars Program all four years of his attendance. He was also awarded the Lycoming College S-STEM Scholarship, along with both the M.B. Endowed Prize for Freshmen and Freshman Biology Award during his first year. Along with that, he qualified for the Joanne and Arthur Haberberger Fellowship Program and spent significant time tutoring biology students.

"I certainly can't think of a time in my academic career where a set of students has had a more disrupted time on campus than the four years that Preston has been at Lycoming, where his first year on campus ended abruptly in March with the beginning of the pandemic and similarly the next two years had their on-and-off, start-and-stop foibles," Whelan, a professor of philosophy at Lycoming, said. "For any student, let alone a student-athlete, or one looking to enter medical school, to get through the last four years with a perfect 4.0 GPA is just incredible."
 
The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually.  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 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.
 
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage graduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership are evaluated.  An equitable approach is employed in reviewing an applicant's nomination form to provide all student-athlete nominees an opportunity to receive the graduate award, regardless of sport, division, gender or race.  In maintaining the highest broad-based standards in the selection process, the program aims to reward those individuals whose dedication and effort are reflective of those characteristics necessary to succeed and thrive through graduate study.