Ian Alberts of Evansville (men's track); Emma Baalman of Southern Illinois (volleyball); Jake Gillum of Illinois State (men's track); and Adara Opiola of UNI (softball) have been named 2021 Missouri Valley Conference postgraduate scholarship winners as announced by Commissioner Doug Elgin. The Missouri Valley Conference Faculty Athletics Representatives Committee voted to award postgraduate scholarships to the four student-athletes, due to their exemplary academic and athletic performances. Each will receive a $5,000 postgraduate scholarship from the Conference.
2021 MVC Postgraduate Scholarships (PDF)
Alberts is a senior who has made the Dean’s List in seven semesters in his time at the University of Evansville. The biology major has recorded a 4.0 GPA, while earning MVC Scholar-Athlete recognition. A valued member of the UE track and field team, Alberts holds the program record in the indoor and outdoor pole vault. Alberts has served numerous hours at local middle and high school cross country and track & field meets. He participated in the UE Barn Blitz to benefit Habitat for Humanity and took part in the Aces Holiday Reading Program where he read books to local Evansville elementary schools. Alberts has been accepted to Southern Illinois University's medical school.
Baalman earned MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team honors in 2020 for her work as SIU’s middle hitter. The Calhoun, Ill., native led the Missouri Valley Conference in hitting percentage (.298) and had the seventh-most service aces of any middle hitter in the nation. She tallied six 10-plus kill performances, which included 12 kills in SIU's five-set win over Valpo (2/14) and hit at least .300 in 10 of SIU's 20 matches. Baalman graduated with her bachelor’s degree in exercise science and earned her master’s degree in education. She plans to attend Washington University in St. Louis for Physical Therapy school, which is the No. 1 program in the country for that field of study.
Gillum, a native of Metamora, Ill., earned Illinois State’s most prestigious undergraduate academic award, the Robert G. Bone Scholarship and was selected as the Doug Collins Scholar-Athlete of the Year to start off a successful 2020-21 season both academically and on the track. He was crowned the MVC Champion in the mile and was the MVC runner-up in the 800-meter run at the MVC Indoor Championships and earned All-MVC Honorable Mention honors at the MVC Cross Country Championships. Gillum maintained a 4.0 grade point average as an Exercise Science major and Spanish and Psychology minor and will begin a Master’s Program at Illinois State this fall. During his Illinois State track & field/cross country career, he has been named an MVC Scholar-Athlete four times and earned the Valley’s Elite 17 Award at the 2021 MVC Indoor Championships.
Opiola (Iowa City, Iowa) earned First Team All-MVC and MVC First-Team Scholar-Athlete honors in 2021. The standout DP was named to the MVC All-Tournament Team and earned NFCA Third Team All-District recognition as a redshirt senior. Opiola has a 4.00 cumulative GPA in graduate school, working on a degree in Gerontology: Social Sciences while earning her bachelors degree in Political Science with three separate minors. Opiola is a three-time recipient of the MVC Commissioners Academic Excellence award (2018, 2019, 2020) and was a 2020 recipient of the MVC President's Academic Excellence Award. Opiola plans to attend the University of Iowa Law School where she will pursue her juris doctorate degree.
To be eligible for consideration, recipients must have achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.40, participated with distinction in a Missouri Valley Conference championship sport for at least two seasons at the nominating institution and must graduate from their institutions within 18 months following selection at the spring meetings of the Faculty Athletics Representative Committee.
Also, the recipients must be accepted for postgraduate studies at an institution of higher learning at the time of receipt of the scholarship. And, the recipients must have completed eligibility for participation in intercollegiate athletics in the academic year in which nominated.