Meloche Earns Degree

Lincoln? Former Husker gymnast Vanessa Meloche was among 27 Nebraska student-athletes who received their diplomas during winter commencement on Saturday, Dec. 20 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Meloche, an All-American on bars, completed her Husker career in 2008 before seeing her season cut short due to injury. After being named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and earning an Academic All-Big 12 Award, Meloche earned her bachelors degree in Nutrition, Exercise and Health Science.

Meloche earned First-Team All-America honors on bars as a sophomore. The Montreal, Quebec native was the Big 12 bars champion in 2006.

The Husker graduates come from 10 U.S. states, three Canadian provinces and include one graduate from South Africa. Nebraska’s 2008 December class of graduates helped build on the Huskers’ great student-athlete tradition, which includes an NCAA-leading 268 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans across all sports. Nebraska continues to feature one of the highest graduation rates in the nation with a Big 12-leading exhausted eligibility graduation rate of 93 percent.

“I admire each of these student-athletes for the way they balanced school with competition,” Nebraska Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academics, Compliance and Planning Dennis Leblanc said. “These graduates add to Nebraska’s great tradition of academic and athletic excellence. These student-athletes have come from different parts of the country and the world to receive the highest quality of education while competing in athletics at the highest level. The athletic department, the University and the entire state of Nebraska are proud of them.”