SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced its 10 postgraduate scholarship recipients for the 2014-15 academic year on Monday, April 27. Samford University's Michaela Reesor was named this year's Dorothy Hicks Graduate Scholar for her hard work on the court, in the classroom and out in the community.
 
The SoCon will recognize the 10 student-athletes at the Southern Conference Honors Dinner in Hilton Head Island, S.C. on Wednesday, May 27.

The senior outside hitter is a three-time first-team All-SoCon selection, was the league's Player of the Year in 2013, and helped the Bulldogs win the SoCon Volleyball Championship and appear in the NCAA tournament in 2011 and 2014. She is also a member of the Volleyball Canada National Team.
 
The Caledon, Ontario native is a journalism and mass communication major with a 3.896 GPA and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society along with serving as vice president of Samford's chapter of Kappa Tau Alpha, a journalism and mass communication honor society.
 
She is also president of Samford's chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Reesor, who writes for the Samford Crimson student newspaper, is a member of the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has been active in the Samford community and beyond, helping her earn the Francis Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership's Joe McDade Academic Scholarship.
 
Reesor's involvement in the community is just as impressive as the accolades she has received on the court and in the classroom. She has volunteered at the Alabama Kidney Foundation Walk and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk and with the organization Hippo Africa to gather and ship sports equipment to an orphanage in Uganda.
 
She intends to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree to further her aspiration of working in sports marketing and event planning.
 
The recipients are nominated by their schools and selected by the Southern Conference Graduate Scholar Committee. The scholarships, worth $2,000 each, are awarded to student-athletes about to receive their undergraduate degrees who intend to pursue advanced degrees in graduate or professional school. The student-athletes are evaluated on academics, athletics and community service.