BATON ROUGE — LSU gymnasts April Burkholder and Vanessa Rodriguez participated in “Math and Sports Night” at Wedgewood Elementary on Tuesday evening as part of the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program.
The student-athletes visited with the elementary students, signed autographs and handed out posters and schedule cards.
A nine-time All-American, Burkholder was the 2004 and 2005 SEC and Central Region Gymnast of the Year. She holds the school record in the all-around and also shares the school records on the vault, beam and floor, while scoring the most perfect 10.00’s in school history with eight.
The senior from Houston won the prestigious Super Six Challenge all-around title to open the 2006 season, while also claiming the balance beam and floor exercise championships.
Rodriguez, a freshman from Homestead, Fla., was a three-time Level 10 national qualifier in high school. She finished second on the bars at the 2002 national championship and was the 2005 Florida state champion on the bars and in the all-around.
The CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success)/Life Skills Program was designed by the NCAA to help student-athletes realize higher academic achievement, increase likelihood of graduation and enter a chosen profession with a higher level of vision, knowledge, motivation, self-responsibility and greater overall success. In Spring 2003, the CHAMPS/ Life Skills Program honored one of LSU’s most memorable graduates, Shaquille O’Neal, by naming the program after him.