General | 5/1/2024 6:06:00 PM

Six Utah Tech University student-athletes were honored as the inaugural recipients of the "Strive To B" Award, presented by Black Desert Resort, at a special awards luncheon held on Wednesday.
 
The six Trailblazers who were presented with the first "Strive To B" awards were graduate women's soccer player McKinley Barney, senior men's soccer player Traedon Chamberlain, senior football player Max Christensen III, senior baseball player Hank Dodson, and senior women's basketball players Breaunna Gillen and Emily Isaacson. 
 
"Black Desert is honored to be partnered with Utah Tech in so many ways, but none really exemplifies this partnership more than honoring student-athletes who are well rounded, who care about their community and show up," said Patrick Manning, managing partner of Black Desert Resort. "This inaugural class of six student-athletes exemplifies all of those things."
 
The six student-athletes were chosen for the first Black Desert "Strive To B" Award because of their commitments to the core principles of the award, which are:
·      Be outstanding.
·      Be a leader.
·      Be accountable.
·      Be kind.
·      Be compassionate.
 
"We are so thrilled how our partnership continues to grow with Black Desert," Utah Tech University Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Ken Beazer. "It is really fun for the university, and in particular [Trailblazer] Athletics, to connect with an entity and establishment that is so forward thinking."
 
Beazer noted that Utah Tech Athletics has put in place a holistic model for the over 400 Trailblazer student-athletes with the hope of that each of them can not only be identified as an athlete, but also be identified as someone who is very effective in the community as part of their overall develop in all facets of their lives after graduation.

"This 'Strive to B Award' is the epitome, and kind of a hallmark, of what we hope for all of our student-athletes," Beazer said. "This award is perfect, this is rewarding and recognizing what we want, and what we strive for with our student-athletes. We thank Black Desert for being a valued partner and we look forward to future award presentations."