Wetterstrom Earns N4A Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award
5/13/2020 10:00:00 AM | Volleyball
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A) recently announced the recipients of its 2020 Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Awards. Michigan volleyball alumnae Sydney Wetterstrom was one of five recipients of the prestigious award.
The career Wetterstrom put together during four years on the volleyball court reads as pretty standard on its surface. Her playing time and production rose each year, culminating in her best season as a senior in 2019. She set new career highs in every statistical category and tied a personal best with 20 kills on her senior night, all while earning Academic All-Big Ten each year she was eligible.
But what lies beneath the surface is what makes Wetterstrom worthy of the N4A Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award. During her college career, Wetterstrom faced two life-altering sexual assault situations, to the point that it seemed these traumas would get the best of her. However, they did not.
Instead, Wetterstrom used these negative experiences and turned them into a positive platform to counsel others, co-founding a support group called Student-Athlete Sexual Health (SASH) to create a safe and confidential environment for student-athletes affected by sexual assault to learn coping strategies and acceptance skills to regain their voice. SASH has been an important and valuable addition to student-athlete wellness in the Michigan athletic department, and Wetterstrom and her co-founder are hoping to take this group and its resources to a national stage in order to help student-athlete survivors at other NCAA institutions.
Wetterstrom was also a member of the University of Michigan's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and used that platform to take the lead on coordinating programming and events aimed at raising awareness in the student-athlete community around issues of mental health. The Longmont, Colorado, native graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in both exercise science and Spanish, and will continue her education at Florida State University in the fall. There she will take her talent, skills and voice and pursue a master's degree in social work, also while playing for the Seminoles' beach volleyball team.
The N4A Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award honors student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics. These young men and women may not be the star athletes or best students, and therefore may not have been recognized by other organizations or awards. Nonetheless, they have persevered and made significant personal strides toward success.
