Thirty-three student athletes earned spots on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll on Jan. 4 for the fall sports season.

The Athletic Director’s Honor Roll started in fall 2015. Inlcuding this year, 89 students made the AD honor roll. To qualify, athletes must play one of the 11 sports at AACC, earn 12 or more credits and finish the semester with a 3.0 GPA or higher.

AACC’s Athletic Director, Duane Herr, started the honor roll to give student athletes more recognition on and off the field.

“Most of the Maryland Junior Colleges give accolades for a 3.5 or better. We thought a 3.0 was still a very high GPA especially given the workload they’re going through with participation and sports,” Herr said.

Herr said the goal of the honor roll is to show student athletes their hard work in the classroom gets noticed .

“It’s not a bragging piece but it’s something for them to feel good about,” Herr said. “It goes to show they’re athletes but they’re students first.”

One of the recipients, basketball player Marcus Dentley, said it feels good to be recognized in the classroom and it helps with transferring.

“It feels really good. I worked hard in the classroom so it’s nice to make the AD’s Honor Roll,” Dentley, a sophomore, said. “Four-year [colleges] always look for good grades and I’m trying to stay on top of my grades so I can transfer in the near future.”

Another recipient, soccer player Mark Jacoby, said working hard in the classroom paid off.

“It was challenging to stay on top of my school work with all the practices and games,” Jacoby said. “I worked hard to make sure I maintained high grades and it paid off.”

Jacoby said he feels accomplished with what he had to juggle.

“I have always had to juggle soccer with school over the past few years and I love the feeling when I see my final grades,” Jacoby, a sophomore, said. “Receiving As makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.”