By Keith McCoy
Mountain Brook High School alumna Tatum Jackson is just as talented in the classroom as she is on the golf course.
On July 6, Jackson was one of 72 Rutgers University athletes to be presented with the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award.
To be a Distinguished Scholar, student-athletes were required to maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.7 or higher. Using that standard, 917 students across the Big Ten were selected.
Jackson was one of at least 147 student-athletes across the conference to achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA, and is majoring in pre-business.
In each of her years at Rutgers, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association has also named her a Division I All-America Scholar. She was one of three Scarlet Knights to earn the honor, along with Emily Mills and Astrid Aneman.
“The team had an outstanding year athletically and academically, and we are pleased to have three of our student-athletes named All-America Scholars,” said head coach Kari Williams in a release. “Astrid Aneman, Tatum and Emily Mills committed themselves to excelling in the classroom, while competing in one of the nation’s toughest conferences. This honor is a testament to their hard work and I am very proud of them.”
On the course, she compiled a 79.43 scoring average last spring to complete her sophomore year. She fired a career-best 72 and finished in the top 20 at the Diane Thomason Invitational, September 12-13.
While at Mountain Brook, Jackson played on the varsity team starting in seventh grade, and held the No. 1 position on the team each of her final five years. During that span, the Spartans won three consecutive state championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
