76 Student-Athletes to Graduate from Georgia Tech This Weekend

THE FLATS — Seventy-six student-athletes are among those who will participate in Georgia Tech’s Spring 2022 commencement ceremonies this weekend at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

The 76 graduating student-athletes include:

Baseball
Jack Friedman (business administration)
Colin Hall (business administration)
Joseph Mannelly (master’s – real estate development)
Cole McNamee (master’s – building construction)
John Medich (master’s – quantitative and computational finance)
Mark Teixeira (business administration)

Men’s Basketball
Michael Devoe (business administration)
Khalid Moore (business administration)
Bubba Parham (history, technology and society)
Jordan Usher (business administration)

Women’s Basketball
Sarah Bates (business administration)
Lotta-Maj Lahtinen (business administration)

Football
Tony Amerson (literature, media and communication)
Trad Beatty (master’s – building construction)
Jamal Camp (business administration)
T.K. Chimedza (business administration)
Brent Cimaglia (master’s – real estate development)
Devin Cochran (master’s – building construction)
Jack Coco (master’s – real estate development)
Thomas Culwell (master’s – industrial engineering)
Dylan Deveney (business administration)
Marquez Ezzard (literature, media and communication)
Peje’ Harris (literature, media and communication)
Luke Johns (business administration)
Austin Kent (master’s – public policy)
Ryan Lantz (business administration)
Will Marshall (civil and environmental engineering)
Cole Neuber (master’s – real estate development)
Zach Owens (business administration)
Myles Sims (business administration)
Austin Smith (business administration)
Jordan Yates (business administration)

Golf
Luka Karaulic (business administration)
Ben Smith (business administration)

Softball
Kennedy Cowden (psychology)
Ariella Jackson (biology)
Palmer Pinholster (literature, media and communication)
Alexis Ray (business administration)
Bailee Zeitler (business administration)

Spirit
Peter Campfield (mechanical engineering)
Rachel Epperson (biomedical engineering)
Landon Eisenhut (computer science)
Kolbie Johnson (computer science)
Jocelyn Kavanagh (music technology)
Erin McGinley (mechanical engineering)
Morgan McGuinn (industrial engineering)
Jennifer Miller (industrial engineering)
Kira Pancha (computer science)
Julie Shorey (civil engineering)
Jarrett Torres (chemical and biomolecular engineering)
Kristen Wedegis (computational media)
Isabelle Williams (architecture)

Men’s Swimming & Diving
Kyle Barone (computer science)
Christian Ferraro (chemical and biomolecular engineering)
Daniel Jacobs (business administration)
Caio Pumputis (business administration)
Clark Wakeland (aerospace engineering)

Women’s Swimming & Diving
Kelsey Dekshenieks (business administration)
Emily Graham (business administration)
Cami Hidalgo (mechanical engineering)
Jami Williams (business administration)

Women’s Tennis
Gia Cohen (business administration)

Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country
Nicole Fegans (business administration)
Abby Kettle (master’s – health systems)
Clay McKnight (economics)
Olivia Moore (industrial design)
Liz Rice (business administration)
Haley Unthank (civil engineering)

Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country
Henrik Anderson (computer science)
Zachary Jones (business administration)
Cole Miller (mechanical engineering)
William O’Reilly (business administration)
David Reteneller (computer science)

Volleyball
Mikaila Dowd (biomedical engineering)
Kayla Kaiser (literature, media and communication)
Maddie Tippett (business administration)

The 76 graduates include student-athletes from 18 different undergraduate majors (aerospace engineering; architecture; biology; biomedical engineering; business administration; chemical and biomolecular engineering; civil engineering; civil and environmental engineering; computational media; computer science; economics; history, technology and society; industrial design; industrial engineering; literature, media and communication; mechanical engineering; music technology; psychology) and six different master’s degree programs (building construction; health systems; industrial engineering; public policy; quantitative and computational finance; real estate development).

The group of graduates also includes three-time Major League Baseball all-star Mark Teixeira. Teixeira, who played baseball at Georgia Tech from 1999-2001 (he won the 2000 Dick Howser Trophy as college baseball’s national player of the year), left Tech after three years when he was selected by the Texas Rangers with the fifth overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft. He went on to hit 409 home runs during a 14-season Major League career, while winning five Gold Gloves and three Silver Slugger Awards. After retiring from baseball in 2016, he spent four years as an analyst for ESPN before he returned to Georgia Tech in 2021 to complete coursework for his bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Prior to their commencement ceremonies, the graduating student-athletes were honored during Georgia Tech athletics’ semi-annual graduation brunch on Tuesday morning. Speakers at the event included graduating volleyball student-athlete Mikaila Dowd, director of athletics Todd Stansbury, Total Person Program administrators Reid Ferrin and Leah Thomas, and Letterwinners Club representative Courtney Naser, a senior compensation analyst at Ameris Bank. During the event, the graduates received their white stoles to identify them as student-athletes during their commencement ceremonies.

Georgia Tech athletics boasts a 90% graduation success rate in the latest data provided by the NCAA in December 2021. The 90% NCAA GSR is an all-time high for Tech, which had never achieved a GSR above 85% prior to 2016. Nine of the Yellow Jackets’ 13 teams – men’s cross country/track & field, women’s cross country/track & field, football, golf, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis and volleyball – have individual team GSRs equal to or higher than the national average in their respective sports.

Alexander-Tharpe Fund

The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.

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