Booneville, Miss. - A group of gifted young men and women have gained the most elite prize that can be attained while attending Northeast Mississippi Community College.

Nearly 50 athletes from six of Northeast's intercollegiate athletic programs qualified to receive their Associate of Arts degrees at the conclusion of the 2017 spring semester. 

"On behalf of our athletic department and coaches, I am very proud of the outstanding graduating student-athletes that we have this spring," said Northeast athletic director Kent Farris. "We wish each of these students further success in their lives. They will always be part of the Tiger family.

"This class of graduates verifies the outstanding job that our faculty and athletic staff do in ensuring that our standards are to provide quality instruction and mentorship in order to be successful in the classroom."

Approximately half of the 43 total athletes that earned their degrees participated during the traditional commencement exercise on Friday, May 12 inside legendary Bonner Arnold Coliseum.

Twenty members of the football team, which claimed its first top-10 finish in school history, were conferred with degrees. That is the highest number of recipients of any sports program at Northeast.

Softball had the highest percentage of student-athletes graduate with seven of its eight eligible sophomores, or roughly 88-percent. Among that group was Mississippi's regular-season strikeout champion Jessica Boyd.

Both the men's and women's basketball programs graduated 80-percent of their upperclassmen as well. Baseball and the cheerleading squad were also represented with four athletes apiece that obtained degrees.

These student-athletes were awarded with degrees after completing the proper coursework for their respective majors as set forth by the Northeast Board of Trustees and the state of Mississippi.

The following is the list in alphabetical order with sport, high school and course of study of the Northeast student-athletes that were candidates for graduation.