COLCHESTER, Vt. - Men's ice hockey's David Ciancio (Scituate, R.I./Seahawks Hockey Club) was recognized with the Father Prevel Memorial Award, one of Saint Michael's College's two major senior accolades, during the school's 118th Commencement on Sunday in Ross Sports Center. Athletics was also well-represented by Alpine skiing's Margrethe Frøland (Rælingen, Norway/Dønski VGS), who delivered the undergraduate address.
 
Ciancio claimed an award which honors a graduate who has demonstrated commitment and achievement related to the intellectual, spiritual, moral and social values of Saint Michael's College. He continues a remarkable run of success by student-athletes at commencement, becoming the fourth Prevel Award winner in five years, joining Alex Mendez '21 (baseball), James Downs '22 (men's cross country) and Swapnil Jhajharia '24 (men's cross country). On the women's side, Roxy Withers '18 (women's cross country) and Emily Ferreri '19 (women's basketball) were both valedictorians and won the Katherine Fairbanks Memorial Award, the second of two major commencement awards; Ashley Turner '21 (women's lacrosse) claimed the Fairbanks Award and was among five seniors with a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average; Katie Escobedo '23 (women's soccer) won the Fairbanks Award; and Beth Syverson '23 (women's volleyball) was one of four students with a 4.0 GPA. In 2024, Jhajharia, Katie Culliton (women's cross country) and Gigi Kelsey (Alpine skiing) were all among 10 students with a 4.0 GPA.
 
A two-year men's ice hockey captain and two-time New England Hockey Writers Association (NEHWA) Division II/III All-Star and Northeast-10 Conference All-Conference selection, Ciancio was named NE10 Championship most valuable player as a senior after potting three points in a 5-1 title-game victory at Saint Anselm College. A defender, he led the NE10 in blocked shots (52) while pacing the Purple Knights in goals (13) and tying for the lead in points (25), power-play goals (4), game-winning goals (3) and +/- (+13). The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) president was a finalist for the 2025 Joe Concannon Award, recognizing the top American-born men's ice hockey player at a New England NCAA Division II/III institution. Ciancio earned the NE10's Co-Defensive Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award accolades as a junior and Elite 24 Award as a sophomore, and was recognized on Friday as the College's institutional selection for NE10 Man of the Year during the Department of Athletics' 78th Block 'M' senior awards celebration.
 
Ciancio has a 3.86 GPA as a business administration and accounting double major, and has earned two Division 2 Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Awards, two NE10 Academic All-Conference laurels, a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District nod, and seven NE10 Academic Honor Roll accolades. He holds membership in honor societies Chi Alpha Sigma (college athlete), Delta Epsilon Sigma (Catholic colleges), Omicron Delta Epsilon (economics) and Sigma Beta Delta (business, management and administration).
 
Frøland joined Julia Colasanti '18 (women's volleyball), Winston Jones II '19 (men's basketball), Gabriella Dicomitis '22 (women's ice hockey), Escobedo (2023) and Makayla Blake '25 (women's basketball) as the sixth student-athlete in the past seven commencement ceremonies selected to deliver the senior address. Blake was chosen to speak in her original senior year, but injury in her early years afforded her a fifth season this winter.
 
A two-year Alpine skiing captain, Frøland is co-founder of the College's Student Investment Fund and has been Class of 2025 president, Senior Class Gift Committee member, Pi Sigma Alpha president, three-year executive board member and two-year tri-chair of Hope Happens Here, NCAA Innovation Grant Program reviewer, Orientation leader, and Purposeful Learning peer mentor during her time on campus. She is an economics and international relations double major who holds a 3.96 GPA, and has earned two D2 ADA Academic Achievement Awards, a pair of College Sports Communicators Academic All-District accolades, and three United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association (USCSCA) National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team honors. Frøland holds membership in honor societies Chi Alpha Sigma (college athlete), Delta Epsilon Sigma (Catholic colleges), Omicron Delta Epsilon (economics), Phi Beta Kappa (liberal arts and sciences) and Pi Sigma Alpha (political science). On Friday, she was one of three student-athletes who earned the Department of Athletics' Victor V. LeMieux '35 Award, recognizing varsity athletes best displaying loyalty and leadership in their program, both on and off the field of competition.
 
Rita Whalen McCaffrey was among three honorary degree recipients, as the founder of Dismas of Vermont, Inc., which provides transitional housing and community support to the formerly incarcerated. McCaffrey's late husband, Frank '58, was a member of the legendary 1957-58 men's basketball team. Dubbed the Iron Knights, the squad made a run to the NCAA College Division Tournament (now Division II) championship game, finishing as national runner-up. The team was inducted into the SMC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017, with Frank, a well-regarded Vermont judge, delivering the acceptance speech on behalf of his teammates.
 
The Athletics influence was felt elsewhere at Commencement. Women's soccer's Katie Hansen (Spring Lake, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) is class president, and teammate Elani Gikas (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) her vice president. Men's swimming & diving's Thomas Kane (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional) is secretary, while the two senators are women's soccer's Christina Cummings (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) and men's cross country's Pat McGloine (Schuylerville, N.Y./Schuylerville). Among the seven Senior Class Gift Committee members are Frøland and baseball's Preston Hewett (Plainfield, N.H./Lebanon).