By: By: Bill Morgal, Sports Information Director
, the outgoing two-year president of Shippensburg's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), was honored by the university with the Raider Legacy honor at Wednesday's Campus Life Awards Program.
Kinard's award was presented to the individual who “best embodies the spirit and core values” of Shippensburg University. Shippensburg's SAAC shared the Shippensburg Community Service and Engagement award for the second consecutive year for its extensive and on-going commitment to numerous service projects.
“Both accomplishments are outstanding examples of the work being done by our student-athletes beyond the athletics arena,” said
Jeff Michaels, acting director of athletics.
Academic success has also been at the forefront of Kinard's tenure at Shippensburg. Kinard is an elementary education major with a 3.92 cumulative grade-point average who has received multiple Dean's list honors. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the education honors fraternity, and has completed student teaching at Ben Chambers Elementary School.
Outside of the classroom, Kinard has been instrumental in numerous community service initiatives through SAAC, Tau Kappa (the female athletics sorority) and Kappa Delta Pi. Among her outstanding work is SAAC's Special Olympics Fun Meet and the MentorSHIP program. Kinard has also served as the co-chair of the PSAC's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee while at Shippensburg.
“It is hard to describe Anna's leadership, as she has such a high level of maturity for her age,” said
Tim Verge, head coach of women's swimming. “Anna has a terrific set of grounded principles. She stands as such a positive representation of what a student-athlete should be that I believe people who come in contact with her really find that they want to strive to be like her.”
In the competitive arena, Kinard has qualified for PSAC Championships in several events over multiple seasons. With the Raiders she has achieved her lifetime best performances in 50 and 100 freestyle along with the 100 and 200 backstroke. As a senior she contributed to the 400-yard freestyle relay squad that reached the awards podium at the PSAC Championships. Kinard has also been an incredible leader for the swim team and her fellow student-athletes.
“Quite often no level of athletic success can match what these people have done for those around them,” Verge said. “Our community, conference, university, department and team are better because of
Anna Kinard. I have coached a lot of successful student-athletes in terms of accomplishments in the pool, but I would take a whole team with people like
Anna Kinard over any of them at any time. I personally am a better coach and person because I was one of the fortunate people to cross paths with Anna. Her legacy will certainly be remembered.”
