COURTNEY TYUS OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a senior from Thornton, Colo., has been selected the SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete-of-the-Week for the week ending March 1, 2015.
If video does not appear below, click here to view.
Whether it be as a two-year captain of the basketball team, a research assistant in the biology department, or while organizing and participating in community service projects during her four years at CC, Tyus has embraced her role as a leader within a wide-ranging array of campus organizations.
The native of Thornton, Colo., is best known for her exploits on the hardwood, where she steadily climbed into a place among the program’s the all-time leaders in many statistical categories.
With 14 points at the University of Dallas on Feb. 7, she became only the 11th player in the 40-year history of Colorado College women's basketball to record at least 1,000 career points. She also dished out seven assists that evening to join Melanie Auguste (2005-09) as the only Tigers to record 400 or more.
Eight days later in the season finale against Texas Lutheran University, Tyus played in her 100th career game, including her 89th as a starter. With the seventh of her eight rebounds during the closing minutes of that contest, she became the 18th Tiger to reach 500 and joined Auguste as the only two players in program history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals.
This year, the three-time all-SCAC selection led her team with a single-season best 128 assists and 55 steals, ranked second with 295 points and was third with 137 rebounds.
In the conference opener against Centenary College, Tyus recorded her first triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists while leading CC to an 84-61 victory.
She also was a leader off the court, organizing the team’s volunteer efforts to help build a house with Habitat for Humanity, and collaborating with the Rocky Mountain Field Institute to restore hiking trails in the Garden of the Gods Park, a registered National Natural Landmark in Colorado Springs.
As an individual, Tyus represented the women’s basketball team on the college’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and participated in the SCAC-sponsored meeting in Dallas that led to Dr. Joel Fish appearing at each member institution to address mental health issues and student-athletes.
She also served as the pre-physician assistant representative and cabinet member of the college’s Health Professions Club. In that role, Tyus collaborates with physician assistants in the Colorado Springs area to produce a shadowing list and strengthen club members’ knowledge about potential career opportunities as a physician assistant.
In an effort to enhance her experience in the medical field, Tyus volunteered once a week at Children's Hospital Colorado at Memorial Hospital Central, where she assisted the nursing staff in daily tasks and developed relationships with patients while providing a fun and safe atmosphere.
Tyus, who is certified in First Aid and CPR, was a summer camp counselor at Lifetime Fitness from May 2012 through September 2013, leading activities for a group of ten campers ages 4-12.
In the classroom, Tyus currently owns a 3.3 grade-point average while majoring in molecular and cellular biology, earning two appearances on the SCAC Honor Roll for academic excellence.
While working as a research assistant alongside Darrell Killian, assistant professor of molecular biology, Tyus presented their findings on genetic analyses, molecular biology techniques, fluorescence microscopy, and phenotypic characterization at the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science at the University of Chicago.
Tyus plans to continue to work as a medical assistant in Denver after graduating in May. Her long-term ambition is to enroll in either medical or physician assistant school.
To read about past SCAC Character & Community winners from the 2014-15 academic year, click here