Cloutier earns prestigious student-athlete postgraduate scholarship

As an accomplished golfer, Renee Cloutier understands the value of making a challenging cut.

The former Niceville High School star and St. John’s University graduate recently made her most formidable one yet. And it had just as much to do with the results on her grades reports as it did with the tallies on her score cards.

Cloutier received a coveted NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for her work in the classroom and on the course. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.

The NCAA awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women. Cloutier made the tough cut.

“Renee is very deserving of this tremendous honor,” St. John’s Dean Robert A. Mangione said in a release on the team’s website. “In addition to being an outstanding athlete she is an exceptional scholar and wonderful person. We all wish her the very best with her postgradu-ate studies.”

Considering the thousands of senior student-athletes who recently graduated, Cloutier felt privileged to be in such elite company.

“When I found out about it, I was definitely surprised,” said Cloutier, who this week was named to the National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team for Division I. “It’s certainly a great honor.”

Cloutier has racked up awards like birdies. In addition to the postgraduate scholarship and All-American Scholar Team honor, she garnered the All-Big East Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete Sports Excellence Award in 2009 and received a Student Achievement Medal for her exceptional contribution to the extra-curricular life at St. John’s along with being named this year's women's St. John's Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Cloutier, who built a 3.86 GPA at St. John’s, said the scholarship is worth $7,500. She will use it toward graduate school at Syracuse, where the 22-year-old is pursuing a clinical doctorate in audiology.

“As long as I can have interpersonal relationships with clients, I think that’s what will be most important when I start my career,” said Cloutier, who earned a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology this past May and was on the Dean’s List every semester she attended St. John’s.

Cloutier was no less impressive on the golf course. The three-time All-Big East honoree led the team this past season with a 78.44 stroke average and tied for the Red Storm lead with four top-10 finishes. The conclusion of her senior season saw her repeat as St. John’s women’s golf MVP.

When it comes to life, Cloutier intends to continue learning and never store away her golf clubs.

“I’ll always be a student-athlete.”