University of Connecticut Athletics
Orski Named Male Winner of CPIA's Prestigious Kinsman Award
4/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
STORRS, CT - Craig Orski of the University of Connecticut men's swimming and diving team from 1999-2003, has been awarded the 2003 Kinsman Award, an honor given by the Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes (CPIA) at the University of Connecticut.
The Kinsman Award is given annually to one female and one male athlete from among all seniors in UConn’s 24 varsity sports. The award recognizes academic and athletic achievement and improvement, leadership, service, perseverance and character. The Kinsman award was initiated and subsequently named for Dr. Donald Kinsman, a very distinguished Professor of Animal Science who very ably served as CPIA's interim director during the 1989-90 academic year.
As a member of the men's swimming and diving team, Orski has been a multi event scorer in the BIG EAST Championship since he was a freshman, scoring every year in the mile and in the last three years in the 500 yard freestyle. Craig has also been a BIG EAST scorer in as many as four separate relay events in a single BIG EAST Championship Meet, including a part in the All-BIG EAST 800 meter relay team. Orski ranks third all-time at UConn in the 1000 yard freestyle, fourth in the mile and fifth in the 500 yard freestyle along with being ranked in the top 10 in both the 100 and 200 backstroke events and is a part of the school record 800 yard freestyle relay team. Craig was also co-recipient at Sunday's UConn swimming and diving banquet of the 2002-03 UConn men's Outstanding Swimmer award.
On the academic side, Craig is an eight semester Chancellor's Scholar. He has achieved a 3.0 cumulative GPA in Accounting and is a Dean's List student and a BIG EAST Academic All-Star. Orski has also been a member of the CPIA Enrichment Team, which has led him to help facilitate the adjustment to University life as well as the personal growth of over 130 student athletes and non-athletes in Freshman Year Experience courses. He has also carried out the function of planning curriculum, developing class lessons and teaching and facilitating a freshman classroom without direct supervision as part of the CPIA Enrichment Team. These experiences also led to a team presentation to a panel of ESPY professors to focus on linking human development theories to the Team's work in their classroom. Craig is also responsible in leading the men's swimming and diving team to a strong academic record, finishing in the top three among UConn men's teams in GPA the last two seasons.
