ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Karina Grant ’20, a former Winthrop University track & field student-athlete, was recently awarded
an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
Grant, who has completed her first year of law school at Georgetown University, is
one of 21 women nationwide to receive a $10,000 scholarship. The NCAA awards the scholarships
to student-athletes who are nominated by their institutions’ faculty athletics representative
for excelling both academically and athletically.
Grant said the scholarship will be a huge help in easing her law school debt. "I'm
so excited to have been selected to receive the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship!" Grant
said. "The financial burden of paying for law school is incredibly high.”
The Virginia native graduated summa cum laude from Winthrop with a psychology degree
and finished in three years, earning an impressive 3.975 cumulative GPA. In 2020,
Grant was named to the Big South Outdoor All-Academic Team, while serving as the women's track & field’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
representative and marketing and social media chair. On the track, Grant was a part
of the 2018 distance medley relay team that set the school record.
"Karina is an amazing young adult," said Trent Kull, Winthrop's NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative. "She is working towards a career
as a lawyer dedicated to advocating for social justice, and will no doubt continue
to make Winthrop, Georgetown and the NCAA proud with important contributions to society."
Grant said she is thankful for all the people who helped her both in the application
process and during her time at Winthrop. “I am grateful for all the opportunities
this university has presented me along the way," she added.
The last Winthrop student-athlete to earn this prestigious award was former men's
tennis player Diego Quiroz in spring 2019.
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. The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships
annually.
For more information, contact Brett Redden, assistant athletics director for communications, at reddenb@winthrop.edu.
