Former Charles Henderson Trojan baseball player Hunter Baggett was awarded the Exemplary Academic Achievement Award by the National Junior College Athletic Association by earning a G.P.A higher than 3.60.

The award honors academic performance throughout an individual’s college career.

Baggett earned a 3.60 GPA while at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College.

Baggett was part of a record breaking 4,587 student athletes to win the award.

“It’s a great reward,” Baggett said. “I was just trying to keep my grades up because I didn’t know what I was going to do after my two years of junior college. That’s what this is all about.”

Every collegiate athlete has to be able to juggle schoolwork with athletics in order to be successful. That was no different for Baggett as he equally weighed both his achievements on the field and in the classroom.

“It takes a lot of discipline,” Baggett said. “This is all about our future. Playing a sport always gives you discipline. You always have to work a little bit more, but it all makes us better.”

Baggett graduated from Charles Henderson in 2014 and in every semester since then he has taken 15 hours. When he wasn’t preparing for an upcoming game, Baggett was busy studying and doing schoolwork.

“That was hard for me at first,” Baggett said. “I got used to it. Even though I was so tired, I knew I had to finish all the work. Whenever I was done for the day I hit the books.”

After completing his two years at Junior College, Baggett now plans to transfer to Troy University where he will study Risk Management Insurance.