Jeff Spear named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year

Fencer Jeff Spear, CC '10, has added another award to his long list of accomplishments—he was named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year in the Men's At-Large Program on Tuesday. The 2010 Columbia College salutatorian is the first Columbia athlete ever to be named Academic All-America of the Year, and is now in the running to earn the overall Academic All-American of the Year award.

While at Columbia, Spear majored in evolutionary biology of the human species, earned a 4.07 GPA, and won the 2008 NCAA individual title in saber. As someone who has excelled both academically and athletically, Spear realizes the challenges student-athletes face.

"As athletes at Columbia, we all work exceptionally hard as we are simultaneously expected to perform as full-time Division I athletes and full-time Ivy League students," Spear said in an email. "It is definitely a tightrope act and I think all of us who have walked it are extremely proud to have done so."

Being acknowledged for his academic accomplishments has enabled Spear to fight "the stereotyped image of the jock."

"I know there are people at Columbia who don't think that athletes belong here, but I think they are completely wrong," Spear said. "It is possible to excel as a student and as an athlete, even at the highest level, and the passion and dedication that we bring to the school make up an important part of the Columbia undergraduate community."

In addition to his NCAA title, Spear helped his team win two Ivy League championships, earned All-American honors three times, earned first-team all-Ivy honors three times, received an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, and was awarded the NCAA's prestigious Elite 88 prize. But of all his honors, salutatorian was the most important to Spear.

"The award that will stay with me the longest ... is probably salutatorian—not the award itself as much as the speech," Spear said. "Having now done both, I can honestly say that being in the final of the national championships is much less scary than giving a speech to 5,000 people."

Part of the reason that speech was so significant for Spear was because it allowed him to show that athletes can be successful in the classroom.

"Although my salutatorian speech was important to me for many reasons, one of the most important things I hoped to accomplish was to stand up there and give a speech as a scholar—and show that I, like every other athlete here, am capable of wearing two hats—an academic cap and a helmet, mask, baseball cap, sweatband, or whatever it happens to be in our sport," Spear said.

Since graduating, Spear has been spending most of his time fencing—he just got back from competitions in Italy and Spain and is heading to Venezuela this weekend. However, he has also been getting ready for some field work he'll be doing later in the summer.