Asimina Hamakiotes (’20), a four-year Bearcat swimmer and Macaulay Honors student, was named The City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2019–20 season. The three-time CUNYAC Swimming All-Star graduated this spring with a 3.7 GPA, having earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with double minors in philosophy and interdisciplinary studies. 
In her first two years on the team, Ms. Hamakiotes helped Baruch win back-to-back CUNYAC Championships. In 2016 she took gold in the 800 freestyle relay and silver in the 200 individual medley. In 2019 she continued to make waves, collecting five medals: one gold and four silver. She finished her last season by qualifying for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Open Championships and breaking a school record.
The star swimmer also excelled on dry land. She interned at the New York Stock Exchange, received research grants from the National Science Foundation, traveled to compete at trade events, and studied abroad at one of the best mathematics programs in the world, the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics.
Hamakiotes says she owes a big part of her success as a student-athlete to head swimming coach Charles Lampasso.
“He’s always been there for me,” she says, adding that her coach was “always supportive when it came to my academics.”
Her future academic endeavors include pursuing a PhD in mathematics at the University of Connecticut.
—JOHN NEVES