Nine Thunderbirds honoured as Academic All-Canadians

VANCOUVER – An amazing 222 Thunderbird student-athletes were celebrated at the annual Academic All-Canadian Breakfast of Champions, presented by Perkins & Will.

Hosted by UBC President Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon, the 2023 celebration honoured student-athletes who achieved a minimum academic standard of 80% over the course of the 2022-23 school year.

In addition to the amazing student-athletes in attendance were coaches, alumni, donors, deans, and other special guests – all there to celebrate the incredible achievements of these role model Thunderbirds.

An increase of 17% over last year’s total, those honoured at the Nest’s Great Hall included representatives from every varsity program and 11 different faculties and disciplines.

UBC Managing Director of Athletics and Recreation, Kavie Toor, addressed the room to highlight some of the many achievements on the field of play, in the classroom and in the community over the past year, as did UBC Track and Field alumnus, Max Richer, Associate Principal at Perkins & Will.

The Breakfast is an annual recognition event for varsity athletes who meet all the athletic eligibility requirements outlined by their governing body of sport (U SPORTS, NAIA) and must have been charged in a season of competition for the year they are receiving the honour.

Academic All-Canadians have been recognized by U SPORTS since 1988. 20 years ago, UBC began applying that standard to all varsity athletes and the annual All-Canadian breakfast has been held ever since.

Baseball

Kyle Anderson (Burnaby, BC) – Kinesiology

Ryan Beitel (Surrey, BC) – Arts

Brett Corbeth (London, Ont.) – Arts

Sean Heppner (Delta, BC) – Applied Science

Brandon Hupe (Vancouver, BC) – Arts

Luciano Letteri (Coquitlam, BC) – Kinesiology

Jonny McGill (Richmond, BC) – Kinesiology

Mario Ricci (Burnaby, BC) – Sauder School of Business

Graham Seltzer (Vancouver, BC) Sauder School of Business