MAAC Announces Attendees for 2019 NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum
EDISON, NJ – The MAAC announced today that two student-athletes will be attending the 2019 NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum.
Vanessa Udoji, a junior from the Quinnipiac University Women’s Basketball team, will be representing the Bobcats at the forum. Udoji is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, a business honor society, which inducts undergraduate students in the top 10 percent of their business-related program. Additionally, Udoji has earned Dean’s List honors every semester at Quinnipiac.
The junior earned a spot on the 2018 MAAC All-Academic Team, along with the Quinnipiac Scholar Athlete award in 2018 & 2019. Since 2017, Udoji has also served as a representative of Quinnipiac’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). The junior is currently a member of Quinnipiac’s Black Student Union (BSU) and the African Caribbean Student Union (ACSU).
Joining Udoji is Murray Coueslant, a sophomore on Marist College’s swim team. Coueslant has earned Dean’s List every semester while he’s been at Marist. Hailing from Aberdeen, Scotland, Murray was one of his high school’s Prefect Leaders. The sophomore has been a member of Marist’s SAAC and is currently applying to be MAAC SAAC Vice President.
As an international student-athlete, Murray has helped other international students on his team, and at Marist, to overcome some of the challenges that are present with beginning school in a new country.
Valerie McQuade, Interim Director of Marketing at the MAAC, will be accompanying the student-athletes as an administrator at the forum. McQuade was selected by the conference for her role as an up-and-coming administrator, looking to help further leadership skills amongst student-athletes, as well as her colleagues.
The Leadership Forum, created in 1997, has been a life-changing experience for more than 5,000 student-athletes, many who have grown personally and professionally, gained a new network of peers and friends, as well as felt the rewards and importance of community service. The 2018-19 NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum will take place from April 11-14 in Orlando, Florida.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 38
th year of competition during the 2018-19 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.