Kyle Eash, a football and track and field student-athlete at Illinois Wesleyan University, and Claudia Veritas, a lacrosse player from Wellesley College, are the 2002 recipients of the NCAA's Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarships.

Eash and Veritas, who were selected from among six finalists (three men, three women), will each receive a $12,500 scholarship from the NCAA.

The Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program was established in 1988 to recognize the contributions of the former NCAA executive director, and was developed to encourage excellence in academic performance by student-athletes. A Byers Scholar is recognized as an individual who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements, and who promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field. The student-athletes are chosen in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and potential for success in postgraduate study in his or her planned career.

Award recipients are required to have at least a 3.500 grade-point average (4.000 scale), show evidence of superior character and leadership, and demonstrate that participation in athletics has been a positive influence on personal and intellectual development, among other qualifications.

Eash

Eash, a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, maintained a near-perfect grade-point average in a dual major of business and biology with a minor in chemistry. He was a 2001 Rhodes Scholarship state finalist and a 2001 finalist for the National Scholar-Athlete Award.

Eash was a member of the 2001 Verizon District Five College Division Academic All-America Team and was a finalist for the 2001 National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Award.

As the quarterback and team captain of the Illinois Wesleyan football team, Eash helped lead the 2001 squad to a 7-2 record and the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin title.

Eash, a native of Bloomington, Illinois, has narrowed his list of medical school choices to Yale University; Washington University (Missouri); the University of Illinois, Champaign; Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University. He has served as a mentor for first-year biology students and is a member of Beta Beta Beta National Biology Honor Society.

Eash has worked as an organic chemistry research assistant and has authored four scientific papers, two of which have appeared in the Journal of Organic Chemistry and in Synthesis. A member of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Student-Athlete Advisory Board and an Illinois Wesleyan Presidential Scholar, Eash also has served as a volunteer for the Red Cross, the Special Olympics, Children's Miracle Network and the local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Veritas

Veritas, a 2001 Rhodes Scholarship semifinalist, plans to attend the University of Oxford to obtain a master's degree in sociology in order to further her goal of becoming a child advocate. She has maintained a high grade-point average in political science and is chair of the Wellesley College Peaceful Justice Think Tank.

A native of Goffstown, New Hampshire, Veritas is on the executive board for the Wellesley Organization for Mental Health Awareness. She co-authored a book on emotional abuse.

In 1998, Veritas worked for two months tending to patients at Mother Teresa's Kalighat Clinic for the sick in Calcutta, India. A member of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, Veritas was awarded the 2001 Wellesley College service opportunity stipend for work in the field of child abuse.

Veritas, who transferred to Wellesley from Saint Anselm College in 2001, earned Northeast-10 Conference player of the year honors in 2000 and finished the season at Saint Anselm as the ninth-leading scorer in Division II. As a member of the Wellesley lacrosse team, she was the New England Women's and Men's Athletics Conference athlete of the year in 2001 and in that same year broke Wellesley's single-season assist record (55). Veritas also was a member of Wellesley's club soccer team.

A certified part-time firefighter, Veritas volunteered at the World Trade Center site in New York City.