ST. LOUIS – Illinois State's Kevin Koski was the male representative for this week's MVC Enterprise Bank & Trust scholar-athlete spotlight, as announced by the league office Wednesday.
Koski, who is redshirting this cross country season, has maintained a 3.60 GPA as a Journalism major over the last three years at Illinois State. In addition to being a member of the cross country and track & field teams at ISU, Koski is actively involved in ISU's student-run newspaper, The Vidette.
A Park Falls, Wisconsin native, Koski has gotten involved in the Bloomington-Normal community as a mentor in the Oakdale Mentorship Program. Twice a week, Koski spends time at Oakdale as a recess buddy or helping out in the classroom.
"It's nice to be able to go in and help some kids out and give them a role model or just a buddy to look up to and hang out with," Koski said.
He is also a part of the Pen Pal Program through ISU's Academic Study Center where a student-athlete is paired with a student in the community to write back and forth with and has volunteered at local food banks and the 100 Caring Adults Celebration.
"I like to give back to the community," Koski said. "They're pretty supportive of us and what we do here so it's nice in our free time to give back to them."
To qualify for the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Spotlight, student-athletes must carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20, completed at least one academic year at a Valley institution and must be at least a sophomore in academic standing.
Redshirt freshmen and first-year junior college transfers are not eligible. In addition to the academic qualifications, student-athletes are evaluated on their campus involvement and community service.
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The Redbirds travel to Columbia, Missouri to compete at the Gans Creek Classic hosted by Mizzou. The women's 6K begins at 5 p.m. and the men's 8K follows at 5:30 p.m.
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