First Team NJCAA All-Academic Team Selections

Four MCCC student athletes earned NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) First Team All-Academic Team honors for the 2024-2025 academic year.  These four student athletes had a 4.0 GPA while earning 24 or more credits to earn this distinction.  The four student athletes to achieve this honor were freshman Ema Budiate (Kaunus, Lithuania/The Grier School), sophomore Carla Cencerrero Gallego, freshman Nicolas Carmago Silva and sophomore Sarah Kircher.

Budiate was a member of the MCCC women’s tennis team that went 5-3 in the regular season and had their highest ever finish at the NJCAA Division I National Championship.  Budiate went 3-0 in Singles matches and in 3-0 in Doubles matches.  Budiate won a number of awards at the Honors Convocation in May, including the Forman & Sloshberg Memorial Scholarship Winner, an award given to a student who has excelled in Social Science. Budiate also won the Liberal Arts Outstanding Achievement Award and received Highest Honors, given to students with a GPA of 3.95 or higher.  Budiate was a Three Star Phi Theta Kappa Award Winner and a Scholar Award Winner from the Mercer Honors Program.

Cencerrero Gallego (Mataro, Spain/Institut Laia l'Arguero) was a forward on Mercer’s women’s basketball team that went 17-7 and qualified for the Region 19 Playoffs.  Cencerrero Gallego averaged 6.2 rebound per game and had a double double (10 points and 13 rebounds in Mercer’s 80-62 playoff win at Raritan Valley.  Cencerrero Gallego was women’s basketball National Women in Sports Day selection chosen for their academic and athletic accomplishments, teamwork and leadership.

Kircher (Celle, Germany/Hermann Billung Gymnasium) was a two-year member of the MCCC women’s soccer team The outside defender helped Mercer win the 2024 Region 19 Championship.  Kircher is a two-time NJCAA All-Academic Team selection.  Kircher had a goal and two assists in seventeen games in the 2024 season.  Kircher won the Psychology Outstanding Achievement Award at Mercer’s Honors Convocation in May.

Carmago Silva (Campinas, Brazil/SESI-Amorerias) was a member of Mercer’s men’s soccer team that went 18-3-1 and were Northeast District and Region 19 Champions.  The defender helped MCCC advance to the NJCAA Division II NJCAA National Championship.

Congratulations to these four student athletes on this impressive academic achievement!

For more on the success of Mercer's student athletes visit: https://www.mccc.edu/athletics_home.shtml