Barry’s Shyla Rider Selected Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Barry softball player Shyla Rider has been selected the 2008 Sunshine State Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, it was announced by Commissioner Michael J. Marcil.
Voting for the Scholar-Athletes of the Year was conducted among the league’s directors of athletics and faculty athletics representatives. Criteria for selection include 40 percent grade point average, 40 percent athletic prominence, and 20 percent service involvement within the school and community.
A junior from Woodbridge, Va., Rider earned a 3.96 GPA as chemistry major. She was named a first-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District selection, as well as a NFCA Scholar All-America.
On the field, Rider earned All-SSC first team honors as an outfielder, batting .358 with 37 RBI and 39 runs scored. She ranked seventh in the conference in runs scored, ninth in RBI, and second with six triples. Rider started all 52 games for the Buccaneers, who advanced to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship and won the SSC league title.
Rider is active in a plethora of activities on the Barry campus and throughout the Miami Shores community. A three-year member of the Barry University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), she led a toy drive each of those years and helped raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This year alone, the Barry SAAC raised $11,500 to benefit Make-A-Wish. Additionally, Rider volunteers in the reading program at Sibley Elementary, volunteers with developmentally challenged individuals at the Hope Center, and works with Hands on Miami, a beach clean-up project. Other programs in which she’s been involved include Relay for Life and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Miami.
Rider’s volunteer efforts also extend to her hometown of Woodbridge, as she volunteers about 14 weeks a year at the Ruxton Nursing Home and Rehab Center.
Rider is the fifth Barry student-athlete to earn Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year recognition. She joins two-time winner Greta Trotman (tennis), Victoria Courmes (tennis), Janina Morusiewicz (volleyball), and Marya Morusiewicz (volleyball).