POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Calista Phippen of softball and Aidan Pech of men's cross country/track & field have been named December's Student-Athletes of the month by Marist's Center for Student-Athlete Enhancement (CSAE).

Phippen is a junior from Kinderhook, New York. She is a Computer Science and Cyber Security double major, with minors in Information Technology and Systems. Phippen has also been named College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All District, and has been named as a member of the MAAC All-American Team for 2020. In school, she has been on the Dean's List her entire time at Marist, while also having a Website Design Internship in 2019 and Interning as a Back End Software Developer at IBM in 2020. On the field in 2019, she was named a Top 25 Freshman of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, while also being named MAAC Softball Co-Rookie of the Year and a member of the All-ECAC NCAA D1 Softball Second Team. She managed to do all of this while also helping out other aspiring young pitchers while working as a Pitching Coach at Extra Innings in 2019. Phippen was also featured on NCAA Softball's Social Media for sharing her LGBTQ Story.

Pech is a sophomore from Bethpage, Ne York. He is majoring in Biomedical Sciences, and minoring in Spanish and Psychology. He was a member of the Dean's List in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020, and is a member of the Marist College Honors program. Additionally, he has been a member of FOXPY's Committee since 2019. Pech has also taken on leadership positions as the SGA Vice President of Athletic Affairs and also serves as the chair for the SGA Athletic Affairs Committee. He also moderated an SGA Panel Discussion titled, "How to Answer the Call for Social Justice as an Athlete." While doing all of this, he even found the time to serve as a volunteer tutor for fellow Marist Athletes.

Here are CSAE's Student-Athletes of the Month for the 2020-21 school year to date:
 
September: Chidera Udeh (volleyball), Arthur Pinckney (football)
October: Sara Leavens (cross country/track & field), Jordan Jones (men's basketball)
November: Jillian Colucci (women's soccer), John Oxner (men's tennis)
 
Follow the Marist Center for Student-Athlete Enhancement on Twitter and Instagram - @MaristCSAE.