Athletes at Virginia Union University and Virginia State University who have been standouts in their sports are being recognized as stars in academics.

Alkin Barkley traveled all the way from Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend school and play golf for Virginia Union University. It would be an understatement to say he made the most of the experience.

Barkley has been selected as the winner of the Lowe’s CIAA Senior CLASS Award. The honor goes to the conference’s top all-round senior student-athlete.

Barkley, a business accounting major, compiled an overall 3.9 GPA as he played on the VUU golf team since 2018.

Under Coach E. Lee Coble, he averaged 76.5 per 18-hole round in 2019, leading the Panthers to their first CIAA golf title in 48 years.

He also served as a volunteer for Feed More, a nonprofit organization that collects, prepares and distributes food for those in need.

Each CIAA school submitted one male and one female nominee for the award. Selection was made by fan balloting, a media committee and the CIAA Management Council.

At VSU, few have earned the title of “student-athlete” more than Ashanti Day of Winchester.

Day, an engineering major, is valedictorian of VSU’s spring 2021 commencement class, with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

As an athlete, she starred three seasons on the Trojan’s volleyball team as a middle hitter. For her career, she scored 84.5 points, with 42 kills, 29 blocks and 26 aces.

Day served as vice president of the National Society of Black Engineers and was honored with the Outstanding Senior of the Year Award in VSU’s honors program. She has been hired as an analyst with Deloitte in Northern Virginia.