Devon Niehoff and Shawna Smith are the Indiana University East athletic department's male and female Academic Athlete of the Year for the 2011-12 school year.

The honor goes to the male and female student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average.

Athletes must be at least a junior athletically and must compete at IU East for at least three semesters.

Niehoff (Rushville, Ind./Rushville High School), a four-year basketball letterwinner, won the male Academic Athlete of the Year for the second time.

He graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

His advice to future Red Wolves student athletes:

"Time, effort and passion are the three biggest factors in being a great student athlete. Make sure you love what you are doing and enjoy it because you only have four years to prove yourself. So do the best you can!"

Smith (Lynn, Ind./Purdue University) recently completed her second season with the IU East women's cross country program. She is an elementary education major.

Her advice to future Red Wolves:

"For younger athletes, look ahead to when assignments are due and plan your study time so there's plenty of time to get things done around practices and sporting events."

Niehoff and Smith also won Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards in their respective sports this past year.

Pick up the July 15 edition of the Richmond Palladium-Item for a poster page honoring IU East's 2011-12 athletics award winners.