STOCKTON, Calif. – After three semesters of remote learning, the Pacific Tigers returned to the classroom with an outstanding grade point average (GPA). Pacific student-athletes have an average GPA for Fall 2021 of 3.17.

"This semester marks the first term back to in-person learning at Pacific since the start of the pandemic in Spring 2020," said Taylor Wright, Assistant Athletic Director, Student-Athlete Services. "After three semesters of being remote, our students had to pivot once again and adjust to a new normal. We are very proud of the hard work and perseverance from our Tigers this semester."

Thirteen of our teams scored above a 3.0. Men's golf had the highest men's team GPA at 3.59 and women's tennis and soccer had the highest for the women with 3.52 and 3.48, respectively.

"It is so important to focus on grades because there is so much more beyond college athletics," said Chloe Stevens, a women's soccer student-athlete. "It's so easy for people, especially student-athletes, to get caught up in their sport, but being passionate about academics translates to the game, and it lets us take advantage of the opportunity to represent ourselves and the university outside the classroom."

Our student-athletes took 4,468 hours of classes during the fall semester, 189 student-athletes achieved a personal GPA of 3.0 or higher, 35 earned a 4.0 GPA, and 107 student-athletes were named to the Dean's Honor Roll (undergraduate students who achieve a team GPA of 3.5 or above).

Andrew Moren, assistant men's golf coach at Pacific, said he and his fellow coaches try to always communicate with their students to see if they need more time for academics. "Our role as coaches is to develop student-athletes, and we take pride in focusing on what that means. We understand the value a great education can provide and how it can positively impact their futures. Throughout each semester, we want to make sure they are managing their time the best they can to be successful on the course and in the classroom."

Multiple Pacific student-athletes said they are encouraged by the success of their teams and other teams at the university. "It means that we care about [sports] and school, and we take pride in being responsible student-athletes," said Leonardo Rigamonti, a golf team member. "We collectively understand our college experience is important to becoming better people, as well as understanding this part of our life will have a big impact on our future."

"Our student-athletes continue to inspire me with their dedication to their sports and their studies, especially over the past two years," said Janet Lucas, Director of Athletics. "To have such a high cumulative GPA for our athletics program is a success in itself, but to achieve that during some extremely trying times speaks to the incredible student-athletes, we have at Pacific."