DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ? Embry-Riddle's Director of Athletic Development, John Mark Adkison, announced the 2009-10 recipients of the Champions of Character and Steve & Vicky Ridder scholarships at the Athletic Awards Banquet on Thursday. The eight recipients of the Champions of Character scholarship will get $2,500 each, while the Steve & Vicky Ridder scholarship winner will receive $6,400.

Emily Cook is a sophomore in the cross country and track a field programs. She currently holds a 3.68 grade point average in Aerospace Engineering and is the College of Engineering representative for the Student Government Association. She is a member of the university's Medical Emergency Disaster Relief Club and is a volunteer firefighter in Orange City.

Mandy Drummond is a senior on the women's soccer team. Selected as a team captain for 2008 campaign, Drummond was named the 2008 Sun Conference Champions of Character Award Winner. She is a two-time second team All-Conference selection, has been named to the Academic All-Conference team twice and was named an NAIA All-America Scholar Athlete in 2008. She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and is a Boys and Girls Club volunteer.

Albane Flamant is on the only repeat recipient on this year's list of honorees. She is a senior on the women's golf team where she was an All-American in 2008 and a second team All-America selection in 2007. Flamant earned All-Conference and All-Region honors in 2007 and 2008 and was The Sun Conference individual medalist in 2009. She is the secretary for the Model United Nations Team and is an editor and staff reporter for the Avion Newspaper.

Luke Maricic is one of two men's tennis players to earn one of this year's scholarships. A 3.988 Aerospace Engineering student, Maricic has been on the ERAU Dean's every semester of his college career. He has been recognized as a scholar athlete by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and has been admitted in the Honors' Program, marking the first time in program history that a student has been accepted mid-program.

Maricic's teammate, Alex Perez, is also an Aerospace Engineering junior who carries a 3.48 grade point average. He is a three-time Academic All-Conference and ITA All-America Scholar Athlete selection and serves as the president of the Space Tourism Club.

Austin Quinn, a junior with a 4.0 GPA in communications, is the first baseball player to be awarded a Champions of Character scholarship. The right-handed pitcher has a 3.46 ERA and a 9-2 record on the year, which includes tossing a one-hitter against St. Xavier on Mar. 2.

Danielle Sands is one of two cheerleaders on the Champions of Character scholarship roster. The 3.06 Computer Engineer junior has received numerous honors, including the Daughters of the American Revolution Award and the General Spruance Merit Awards, and as a member of Embry-Riddle's Air Force ROTC detachment, she was named an Air Force Field Training Distinguished Graduate. She is also a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa and Upsilon Pi Epsilon Computer and Software Engineering Honors Societies and has volunteered with the American Heart Association's Heart Walk, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and the Flamingo Road Church youth ministry.

Sarah Watts is also a member of the cheerleading squad and is a 3.8 junior in Aerospace Engineering. She is a member of the Army National Guard and has been awarded the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Academic Excellence award. Watts has also volunteered as a Diversity Camp counselor and with Relay for Life.

Track and field and cross country athlete, Beth McCubbin, was the lone recipient of the Steve & Vicky Ridder scholarship. McCubbin was the 2008 National Champion in the 1,000 meter run at the NAIA Indoor National Track and Field Championships and she repeated that feat in 2009, making her one of only two student-athletes in ERAU Athletics history to earn an individual national title. In addition to her success on the field, McCubbin has also excelled in the classroom. An Engineering Physics major, she has been employed by the University's Space and Research Physics Lab, and as a result of her research work, she has been offered an internship with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Baltimore, after which she will return to Embry-Riddle as a research assistant, which will pay for her master's degree in Engineering Physics.