Richard Leitner of Los Alamitos was recently inducted into the 3.0 Club at American International College in Springfield, Mass. The 3.0 club honors student-athletes who have earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better after at least one year of enrollment at American International College.
Leitner, a member of the AIC ice hockey team, is a business administration major. “Athlete stereotypes just aren’t true anymore,” said Richard F. Bedard, director of athletics at AIC.
“Our student-athletes achieve in the classroom and the community. Bedard said by having the induction ceremony at the start of the school year it allows the new students to see the accomplishments of the upperclassmen and give them something to strive for. Jill McCarthy Payne, a criminal justice professor at AIC and chair of the faculty athletic board, said the club is one the college takes pride in. “Too often student athletics has a negative connotation, but at AIC we are proud that our athletes are also very good students and campus leaders,” she said.
