Milligan is now being recognized as a five-star gold institution for the champions of character in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes thanks to the outstanding sportsmanship shown by the college’s athletes.
The NAIA also expects athletes to be students and seek out the five core values of respect, responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and servant leadership while on the field of play.
The student development board and athletic director, Mark Fox, announced the news Thursday afternoon in the annual fall board meeting. According to Fox, the NAIA values match up with Milligan’s mission as a Christian liberal arts college of educating men and women to be servant leaders.
When choosing schools for the five-star gold award, the NAIA uses a 100-point scale to determine their champions of the character gold award. Values such as character training, academic focus, character recognition and conduct in competition are all taken into consideration and tallied into a point scale. Schools receiving 60 points or more are named a five-star gold champion of character institution. Milligan received 78 points.
This is the first time Milligan has received this honor at the gold level, according to Fox. He credits the coaches and their efforts to make sure players emphasize appropriate behavior to represent our college in a positive way.
Milligan is just one of 14 colleges receiving this recognition out of 249 schools in the NAIA.
“There has been phenomenal success from our athletes, and we are extremely proud of their extraordinary efforts,” Fox said.
“It is very encouraging to be formally recognized by an outside organization as an institution that actively adheres to the five tenants promoted through the champions of character program,” Fox said when talking about what this means as the athletic director.
An unidentified trustee on the board praised the college and said, “These kinds of recognitions are what let us know these kids are doing something right.”
Milligan was also recognized by the Appalachian Athletic Conference for receiving the five-star gold institution award.
Cover photo via Milligan College Admissions