EUGENE, Ore.  –Bushnell University continues to be a destination small school for "Tri-Athletes", those student-athletes that want to receive a top-notch education, serve the Lord, and compete with all of those aspects receiving equal footing and equal emphasis in the athletic department. The academic piece of the puzzle was impressive once again during the 2024-2025 year.

Highest among the achievements were the efforts of graduating senior Benjamin Lovrod, who was named the winner of Bushnell's President's Scholastic Award. The award is given each year to the graduating senior who attained the highest cumulative GPA with the most credits completed at Bushnell. Lovrod earned a perfect 4.0 in Exercise Science to become the eighth athlete to win the award in it's 40-year history. Lovrod was also one of 18 Beacons to graduate with Summa Cum Laude honors, holding a GPA of 3.90 or higher. 

Many other notable awards were received by the Beacons for their work in the classroom: 
 
Cascade Collegiate Conference President's Academic Excellence
Announced last month, Bushnell continued a long ten-year tradition by being recognized with the Cascade Collegiate Conference President's Academic Excellence designation, as the only school in the CCC to achieve the award in every year it has been given. For the first time in school history, all 17 Bushnell teams finished out the year with GPA's of at least a 3.0, combining for a department GPA of 3.30. Among those are seven teams (men's basketball, women's basketball, men's golf, women's golf, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, and baseball) to post a GPA of at least 3.5.
 
Academic All-Cascade Collegiate Conference
In order to earn Academic All-CCC honors, students must be at least a sophomore and in their second year at Bushnell, with a 3.2 GPA or higher. Th Beacons broke the century mark for the third year in a row with a new record of 113 Academic All-CCC honorees. Over 67% of eligible student-athletes met the mark for the Beacons this year.
 
NAIA-Daktronics Scholar-Athletes
The program works similarly to the conference level, with eligibility for sophomores and higher, only with a 3.5 minimum GPA. For the Beacons, another record was set with 90 athletes selected.
 
CSC Academic All-America Program
The recently revamped Academic All-America program for College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) expanded the possibilities for student-athletes to be recognized and 33 Bushnell student-athletes were honored as All-District recipients.

Top-Ten Stories of 2024-2025

#10 - Men's Basketball Picks Up First-Ever Win in Lewiston
#9 - Beacons Continue to Lead in the Classroom
#8 - Fortnite Claims Top-Ten National Finish
#7 - Softball Defeated #13 Eastern Oregon, 3-0
#6 - Kaitlin Cook Qualifies for NAIA WXC Championship
#5 - Bushnell Breaks Ground on Golf Player Development Center
#4 - A Historic Season for Baseball's Cardiac Kids
#3 - Volleyball Returns to NAIA National Tournament
#2 - Bushnell University Named CCC School of Character
#1 - Kaleo Wellman Finishes as National Runner-Up