LSUS' Stevenson Named Champion of Character, Pattison Scholarship Award Winner
March 24, 2009
Men’s Basketball player Jared Stevenson was honored as one of four NAIA student-athletes named Pattison Scholarship Award winners at the 2009 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship tip-off banquet last Tuesday night.
Stevenson, a senior guard, holds a 3.6 cumulative grade point average as an Accounting major. As part of the award, Jared was given a $2,000 scholarship. Jared plans to use his scholarship money to help him pay for his Masters of Business and Administration degree. He plans to begin on his master’s degree this summer and continue with his work next year as he plays his final year of eligibility for the Pilots.
Stevenson has led the Pilots for the past two seasons as their starting point guard averaging right at 10 points a game. He is the floor general for Coach McDowell and the Pilots and has led his team to two consecutive GCAC Tournament Championships and NAIA National Tournament appearances. Jared leads by example, and absolutely no one can question his commitment or work ethic. He is the ultimate player every coach dreams of having on their team as he is always the first one to arrive at practice and the last one to leave always working to get better. “I wish they made more players and more importantly more young men like Jared,” commented Coach McDowell. “He is a very special young man who is an absolute joy to coach.”
Jared is a leader around campus as he is at LSUS every morning at 7:00 a.m. to go to work for the Facility Services Department. He is a member of the Accounting Club here at LSUS and the Beta Gamma Sigma Fraternity, which is a national honor society for college students. Not only is Jared a leader on campus, but he is also a leader at home. In addition to being a conscientious student and the starting point guard for the Pilots, Jared is a husband and a father of a one and a half year-old girl.
Jared is active in the community as well, especially at his church. He does not miss a service at the Bossier Church of God, where he attends two services every Sunday and attends the mid-week service on Wednesday. Through his church Jared has participated in several community service programs including sending supplies to needy children and volunteering his time working with youth and mentoring young people.
Without a doubt, the most impressive trait about Jared is his ability to balance school, family, basketball, and work. A typical weekday for Jared starts with awaking at 6:00 a.m. to be at school for his Facility Services job at 7:00 a.m. He remains on campus for the remainder of the day either working his job, going to class, or practicing. He is enrolled in 18 hours of upper level classes, which include numerous projects, papers, and difficult exams. His class schedule alone demands an enormous time commitment simply to complete the requirements of each class. “It is an amazing feat in and of itself that Jared finds the time to meet his responsibilities as an employee, a student, a basketball player, and most importantly a husband and father,” says Pilots Assistant Coach Ryan Edwards. “It’s one thing to try and balance all those things but Jared finds a way to be great in everything he does. He is definitely deserving of this Pattison Scholarship Award.”
LSUS has become a household name at the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City every year in March and they are also a common name with the Champions of Character program and the Pattison family. Jared is the third LSUS men’s basketball player to receive this award in the past four years. Greg Tyer (2006) and Josh Porter (2008) were also award winners and recipients of the Pattison Scholarship and the LSUS Pilots Men’s Basketball Team as a unit were awarded the Buffalo Funds Five Star Award for their dedication and implementation of the five core character values (Champions of Character) on and off the court. The team award was the inaugural award and was presented to the Pilots in 2006.
“We became involved with Champions of Character because we believed in supporting the recognition of young men who truly are making a difference in their schools, homes, and communities. After many years of meeting and honoring these individuals we continue to be humbled by the degree of servant leadership these men exhibit,” said Dr. Phil and Mary Pattison. “We are honored to be a part of this program as we believe it is an important step in positively changing the culture of our society through athletics.”
To learn more about the Champions of Character program and the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship visit http://www.naia.org/
