Senior athletes earn GLIAC Post-Graduate Scholarships

Grand Valley soccer player Natalja Stanski and football player Alex Gilde each received the 2010 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Post-Graduate Scholarship. The honor awards each recipient $5,000 in aid to the graduate school of their choice.

Stanski, a senior from Tecumseh, Ontario, was a key player on a Laker defense that allowed only 12 goals all season and recorded 16 shutout wins en route to Grand Valley’s first NCAA Division II Soccer National Championship. She was named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American of the Year, Daktronics, Inc. First Team All-American, Daktronics, Inc. First Team All-Midwest Region and Second Team All-GLIAC. Stanski was received the NCAA "Elite 88 Award" for her outstanding academic and athletic achievements.

Stanski has been a member of the dean’s list for eight semesters and is a three-time member of the Academic All-GLIAC Team. She is also a two-time recipient of the GLIAC Commissioner’s Award. The biomedical science graduate with a 4.00 grade point average will continue her studies at Wayne State University’s School of Allopathic Medicine.

Gilde, a senior from McBain, was a key contributor in the Lakers’ push to the 2009 NCAA Division II football national championship game. He tallied 29 tackles, five tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks during the 2009 campaign. Gilde, who was a 2009 First Team All-GLIAC honoree, also earned Second Team ESPN The Magazine All-American plaudits and received the NCAA Elite 88 Award.

He has been a member of the dean’s list for eight semesters and is a three-time member of the Academic All-GLIAC Team. Gilde was a two-time recipient of the GLIAC Commissioner’s Award. He finished his undergraduate career with a 3.937 grade point average as a biomedical science major with a chemistry minor. He was one of six GVSU students admitted into the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine through the the Early Assurance Program.