INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Augustana volleyball student-athlete Hanna Justesen has been awarded the NCAA Division II Degree-Completion Award an honor which is granted to student-athletes that have completed their athletics eligibility and excel in the classroom.

A special committee composed of representatives from NCAA Division II member institutions reviewed all applications and determined which former student-athletes will receive the awards.

To be considered for the award an applicant must have completed his/her athletics eligibility and must be within 32 semester hours of completion of an undergraduate degree. Justesen will be awarded $7,000 in total or if the award value is the lesser of tuition for the student-athlete's remaining credits toward completing an undergraduate degree.

Not only does the Elmwood, Neb. native, make an impact on the court, she also makes an impact in the classroom with a 3.27 GPA. The senior has been a member of the NSIC All-Academic team the past two seasons as well.

Head coach Jennifer Jacobs is thrilled for Justesen to be awarded this honor.

"I am so overjoyed and proud of Hanna. She has been a leader since day one when I took over this program and she works so hard in the classroom," Jacobs said.  "A truly deserving candidate for this award, she changed her major relatively late in her career after doing some soul searching and I have never seen someone work as hard as her to get caught up. 

"She was running from class to clinical, to practice, to dinner, to studying every single day," Jacobs said. "When most college students were enjoying their weekends Hanna doubled-up on clinical hours and classes to get as close as she could to a normal track schedule.  I'm so proud of her and she is going to do great things in her future nursing career."

Justesen recently finished up her playing career at Augustana this past season. The senior finished the season seeing action in 26 matches and collected 32 kills and 279 digs on the season. Justesen is a Biology major with a minor in Chemistry in which she plans on being a physician's assistant. She plans on graduating in May of 2020.

About the Division II Degree-Completion award
The NCAA established the Division II Degree Completion Award Program in 2001 to provide deserving student-athletes financial assistance for them to complete their first baccalaureate degree. Candidates will be students who have exhausted their athletics eligibility. To date, nearly $6 million has been given to approximately 1,400 deserving student-athletes. Of those student-athletes who have received the award since its inception, 90 percent have earned their undergraduate degree using this program.