Magee Tops as an Athlete and Scholar

Elyssa Magee ’17, the graduating captain of the women’s volleyball team at NJCU, recently received the Athletics “Presidential Academic Achievement Award,” with a 3.93 GPA. Magee, of Kearney, is the first women’s volleyball recipient since the 2010-2011 academic year and the second volleyball player to receive the honor. The award goes to the sophomore-level and older student athletes with the top overall grade point averages. Magee was recognized for her academic and athletic successes in May at the Athletics Banquet and Awards Ceremony, held at NJCU at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center. “I owe a lot of my happiness of being at NJCU to people I met here, to my teammates and to the different professors and coaches who definitely shaped my experience at the University over these last four years,” says Magee. “I made great friends, here, too. I couldn’t be where I am today without the people I met at NJCU.” A Psychology major with a minor in Criminal Justice while at NJCU, Magee has been accepted into Fordham University’s five-year, highly competitive Ph.D. program in school psychology. Her career goal is to provide counseling for elementary school students. “I really like kids. I want to work one-on-one with them in the most beneficial school environment that’s possible for them, as well as giving kids the most resources that I possibly can,” Magee adds. A 2016 team co-captain, Magee is a four-year letter winner and a multi-year starter. She played in 313 sets and 111 matches in four years. Magee, who received a full, Presidential Scholarship to NJCU, worked three jobs on campus. She was a Student Ambassador for Undergraduate Admissions, and she served as a Rising Knight Peer Mentor in the Office of Student Outreach and Retention (SOAR). Magee was also an assistant in the NJCU Sports Information Office, working with the baseball, basketball, men’s volleyball and soccer teams as a statistician and P.A. announcer. The five-time Dean’s List recipient was also a National Student Exchange Program mentor, having studied at the University of Tennessee-Martin during the spring 2015 semester.