LATHAM, N.Y. - The United East has announced its Senior Scholar Athlete Award winners for the winter season. This award recognizes a senior who truly represents the student-athlete model by performing in competition, in the classroom and around the community.
Gallaudet University senior
Blessed Mbogo (Silver Spring, Md.) was selected as the 2024-25 men's basketball honoree. Mbogo is the third Bison to earn a United East Senior Scholar Athlete Award in the past two seasons. He joins last year's GU honorees
Liam Painter (men's track and field) and
Cassidy Perry (women's basketball).
The other award honorees from the United East winter sports include; Penn College's Kayleigh Miller (women's basketball), Lancaster Bible College's Daniel Lefko (men's indoor track and field) and Carlow University's Molly Wagner (women's indoor track and field).
A four-year veteran of the Bison men's basketball team, Mbogo has embodied the three pillars of this award. On the court, Mbogo has been a star for Coach Kevin Kovacs' team. Steadily rising throughout his tenure, Mbogo has jumped out in his final two years as he has averaged over 16 points per game. This season, the Silver Spring, Md., native, hit the benchmark of 1,000 career points, while also hauling in over 400 career rebounds and just a single career steal shy of the century mark. His efforts have been recognized as he earned a spot on the United East all-conference second team in both of the last two seasons.
Off the court, he impressed just as much. Majoring in Biology and Psychology while minoring in math, Mbogo has maintained a GPA of 3.89. The nine-time Dean's List recipient has earned authorship across multiple journals and academic papers including the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis and a bulletin in the American Astronomical Society. In the surrounding community, he has made an impact as well as he was an Election Registration and Voter Ambassador. He has also worked as a Stage Manager for the Gallaudet Theatre and also provided programming for disabled participants at the University of Michigan.
"Blessed is truly an exceptional student athlete in its truest form. He works so hard on his game as much as in his studies and the results are evident. Everyone associated with Blessed are truly blessed to have felt his impact and influence in many ways that cannot be measured," said Kovacs.
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