Andrea Seifert, Ryan Frazier Receive PL Award of Outstanding Leadership and Character
7/2/2015 11:04:00 AM | General, Men's Basketball, Women's Rowing
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Two Bucknell student-athletes -- rising senior Ryan Frazier and recent graduate Andrea Seifert -- have been selected as the two recipients of the 2015 Patriot League Award of Outstanding Leadership and Character. Frazier, a co-captain of the Bison men's basketball team, and Seifert, a four-year member of the women's rowing squad, were recognized for their inspiring actions on and off the competition venues.
Seifert excelled both academically and athletically at Bucknell, despite dealing with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, an autoimmune disease more commonly known as ITP. Seifert received regular medical treatments and testing throughout her college career, and she endured many ups and downs health-wise.
ITP can be a debilitating disease, but Seifert somehow managed to summon the strength to build as well-rounded a college experience as any of her classmates. In addition to the demands of being a Division I athlete in one of the top rowing programs in the region, Seifert made the Dean's List last fall and the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll in the 2015 spring semester. The accounting and financial management major even took an extra courseload this spring to help meet her goal of sitting for the CPA exam shortly after graduation. Seifert's first postgraduate job will be with McGladrey in Washington, D.C.
Seifert also made time to help others. Throughout her Bucknell days she volunteered at the Lewisburg Food Bank, and she estimates that she made and delivered about 30 blankets for a foundation called Project Leo. Since she received many of her treatments in a pediatric hospital, Seifert served as a mentor to many of the younger patients on the ward. Whether it was playing games or simply lending a comforting voice, she became a role model for children who were also trying to cope with their own life-threatening illnesses.
Rowing is an extremely physically demanding sport, but Seifert summoned the strength to excel in that arena as well, despite her reluctance to tell her teammates and friends about her disease. She said, "I felt very strongly that people didn't know, and I was really afraid that people would judge me as this really sick kid and wouldn't take me seriously as an athlete. I just wanted to be known as a strong, independent Division I athlete, that's all I ever wanted to be.”
Despite limited rowing experience coming into Bucknell, by her sophomore year Seifert had moved into the Varsity Four, and she earned a gold medal at the Patriot League Championships just one day after a chemotherapy treatment. She moved up to the Varsity Eight a year later, and in each of the past two seasons, she earned All-Patriot League and CRCA All-Region honors.
As a senior, Seifert finally shared the details of her health struggles with some of her teammates. Head coach Steve Kish said that her story was an inspiration to her peers.
“Andrea has been very reluctant to share the details of her condition with anyone," said Kish. "This year she finally shared her situation with her senior classmates. As a result, I think all of them are extremely inspired with regard to how they perceive any challenges they face. They realize how fortunate they are to have their health as well as the importance of cherishing every day and every moment. I think what is extraordinary about Andrea, is that she is an inspiration to everyone even without them knowing she is dealing with a major health issue. She is always the first to volunteer to do any extra work that needs to be done, whether it is with regards to the facility, equipment, community service, speaking/presentation opportunities, etc."
What kept Seifert going? In her own words: “What has kept me wanting to do this is the girls that are on this team and the support that my coaches have given me and the desire to want to be a person that is so much bigger than just you. There is something about going through a process like this, and kind of doing it by yourself. You wonder sometimes if it is really worth everything I just went through. And you just have to keep telling yourself, 'yes it is!' You get to be a part of something so much bigger than just you. That's just always something I come back to. It's not just you, it's everyone.”
For Ryan Frazier, the 2014-15 school year represented a major step forward for him as a leader, both on the Bucknell campus and within the Bison men's basketball team.
Frazier was voted by his teammates and coaches as a team captain at the start of the year, a rare feat for a junior in the Bucknell men's basketball program. A very young Bison team, featuring four first-year players seeing prominent minutes, captured the outright Patriot League regular-season title last season, and Frazier's leadership played a critical role in that success.
The insertion of the four freshmen into the regular rotation had a two-fold effect. First, it meant that the team would often have a very inexperienced group on the floor, particularly late in the year when three of the five starters were freshmen. And second, the youth movement also meant that a number of veterans, including Frazier himself, saw their playing time reduced a bit.
Frazier was a very important bridge in that delicate balance. He brought a very positive, energetic outlook every day, and the first-year players took to him immediately. Frazier said, “I try to keep a positive attitude as much as I can. Regardless if I'm scoring or playing well on defense, I just try to stay as positive as I can, because all you have is the next play. If something goes wrong, it's over now and you have to get to the next play. Coach preaches that a lot, and I feel like that's the most important thing for the young guys to remember.”
Frazier and fellow co-captain Steven Kaspar both had to adjust their roles, and they ended up being two of the team's most important cogs down the stretch. Frazier, normally known as a defensive specialist who is typically assigned to the opposition's best offensive player, had five double-digit scoring games in 2014-15, and they all came in the final month of the season when the team was struggling a bit offensively and needed another scorer to step up. He set a career high with 19 points at Navy, and then he surpassed that mark with a sensational 22-point performance against Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. He also had 10 points in a close NIT loss at Temple.
Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, Frazier was thrust into a visible leadership role on campus following the basketball season. There was an incident at Bucknell this spring, where three students uttered racial slurs while live on the air on the campus radio station. The remarks, and the subsequent expulsion of the students involved, triggered many emotions on campus, but one of the after-effects was that it empowered many students to speak publicly, most of them for the first time, about how they have experienced either overt or subtle intolerance.
On Apr. 14, a student-led solidarity rally was held in the Academic Quad on Bucknell's campus. Several students came to the microphone and spoke passionately and courageously about their experiences with discrimination. Frazier was one of those who came forward to speak, and he did so brilliantly for nearly 11 minutes. (His words, along with all of the other speakers, can be heard here: http://www.wvbu.com/?page_id=723)
During his powerful message, Frazier recalled a time when a classmate walked up to him on the street and referred to him with the “n-word.” Frazier confessed to the hurt that the episode caused him, but that he was not seeking pity, but rather to rally the Bucknell community to work together to make Bucknell “the most inclusive and comfortable social environment for all of our students.” He added that “Bucknell is educating the next generation of leaders of our society, and as those leaders, it is our duty to first make this school, and then the world, as great a place as we know it can be. Let's start now. “
An accounting and financial management major, Frazier earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average during the 2015 spring semester. He was selected as an Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar last year before spending the summer interning in New York City with Optimum Sports, a sports media buying agency.
The Patriot League established the Award of Leadership and Character to recognize and honor those who demonstrate excellence in leadership and service while participating in Patriot League athletics. All Patriot League student-athletes and a team as a whole associated with a member institution's intercollegiate athletic program are eligible for the honor, which was first awarded in 2012. Voting is conducted by the league's senior woman administrators.
Frazier and Seifert were chosen from an impressive list of 14 candidates which also included Lafayette's Brittany Blass (Field Hockey), Army West Point's Winston Boldt (Men's Soccer), Colgate's Jim DeCicco (Men's Soccer), Holy Cross' Sarah Dahlstrom (Women's Track & Field), Lehigh's Jimmy Miller (Men's Track & Field), Army West Point's Olivia Schetzman (Women's Basketball), Lehigh's Kelly Scott (Women's Lacrosse), Lafayette's Cory Spera (Baseball), Loyola Maryland's Taryn VanThof (Women's Lacrosse), Boston University's Eline Vermeulen (Women's Rowing), American's Jake Weinreb (Men's Soccer) and American's Grace Wilson (Field Hockey).
