University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Jenkins Nominated for Senior CLASS Award
October 07, 2016 | Women's Soccer
UCLA senior forward Darian Jenkins has been selected as one of 30 candidates for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award for women's soccer.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as a NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Jenkins has maintained a 3.427 GPA in English and is on track to graduate early after the fall quarter. A two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree, she has been named to the UCLA Director's Honor Roll seven times in her career. Jenkins has made a big impact at UCLA since her freshman year, when she was one of just two players to start all 26 games in UCLA's NCAA Championship season. She led the team in scoring with 11 goals, five game-winning goals and 27 points and received numerous honors in 2013, including NSCAA third-team All-American, first-team NSCAA All-Pacific Region, first-team All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore, she scored six goals and ranked fifth on the team in scoring, and as a junior she once again led the team in goals scored with five and earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 acclaim. Until suffering a season-ending leg injury on Oct. 2, she had led the Pac-12 in scoring with seven goals, five game-winning goals and 17 points. In the season opener in 2016, she recorded her first career hat trick.
An active volunteer, Jenkins has participated in many community service ventures during her time at UCLA, including Prime Time Games and Mattel Children's Hospital visits. She has volunteered as a coach and player at the Special Olympics, was a volunteer coach for AYSO and other teams, and has helped inner city kids get involved in sports.
The candidate list will be narrowed down to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select a candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2016 NCAA Women's College Cup championship in December.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
