FORT MYERS, Fla. – Outgoing women's basketball senior Keri Jewett-Giles (Fort Myers, Fla./Dunbar/Southern Miss) has been tabbed as the 2019-20 recipient of FGCU's Community Service Award, which is presented annually to the student-athlete(s) who best exemplifies the department's dedicated commitment to volunteerism on campus and in the local community.
 
"I love the fact that Keri gives back to the community in which she was raised," FGCU's Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Services / SWA Kathy Peterson said. "Most student-athletes don't get that opportunity since they go away for college. Keri cares deeply about her community and the generation behind her. The hours she devoted to them while still studying and being a student-athlete is a testament to her spirit of serving others, which this award is all about."
 
Most recently named a Winner for Life and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year in women's basketball by the ASUN, Jewett-Giles registered a 3.95 GPA in her first year of graduate school this past year while pursuing a master's degree in educational leadership after previously earning a bachelor's degree in child and youth studies. She is a two-time President's List, four-time Dean's List and six-time AD Honor Roll student since transferring from Southern Miss. The Fort Myers native was also named First-Team Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), and she was selected to participate in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) So You Want To Be A Coach program.
 
Away from the court, Jewett-Giles has compiled over 140 hours of community service at places such as the Midwest Food Bank, Night at the Nest, Caloosa Middle School, Spring Fling, Franklin Park Middle School and ECHO.
 
"I am honored," Jewett-Giles said. "I'll never forget where I am from. Fort Myers will always be home. It feels amazing to be an important piece in the community."
 
On the court, Jewett-Giles had, arguably, the best season of any player in program history in her final season with the Green and Blue. In addition to her scholar-athlete award, she was named the ASUN Player of the Year, while also becoming a semifinalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year by Her Hoop Stats and a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American. She averaged a team and career-best 16.6 points per contest along with four rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.6 steals per game. In ASUN play alone, she finished second in scoring at 17.6 per contest and tallied seven games with 20-plus points.
 
On top of that, the point guard finished as the highest-scoring two-year transfer in program history with 957 points in the Green and Blue alone, and she finished with 1,464 points in her NCAA career, which is the 76th-highest total among all Division I players nationally. Carrying a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio, she produced a career-high 35 points against LSU in December, which helped her break the program's Division I era career and single-season scoring average records - on top of shattering the program's ASUN regular-season records for total points and single-season average.

Furthermore, Jewett-Giles is one of just three players in the program's Division I era to record a 500-point season with 548 and needed just 22 more points to break Kaneisha Atwater's (569, 2015-16) single-season record. In ASUN play alone, she finished sixth in assists per game and led the ASUN in steals per game (2.9). She ranked 12th nationally among all Division I players in career steals, as well as in the top 50 in assists and top 100 in points.
 
"Keri loves giving back to the community," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "She invests a lot of time helping others. This is a well-deserved recognition."
 
For more info on previous winners of the FGCU Athletics Community Service, visit here.
 
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FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--