Brian Ruggiero All-Academic at Tufts
Brian Ruggiero plays on the Tufts University lacrosse team. The Huntington High School Class of 2009 member is also a scholar, winning New England Small College Athletic Conference All-Academic honors this spring.
Mr. Ruggiero is majoring in psychobiology at Tufts. This summer he will be working in a bone biology lab at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. He plans to begin applying to dental schools in the fall. His father, Salvatore L. Ruggiero, DMD, MD, FACS, is a famed New York oral and maxillofacial surgeon and a clinical associate professor at Stony Brook University and Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.
During his years in a Blue Devil uniform, Mr. Ruggiero participated in football, winter track and lacrosse and earned a litany of honors, including a National Football Foundation Golden 11 Scholar Athlete Award. He served as an inspirational team captain and garnered All-Division and All-County recognition. He even earned a spot on Suffolk's All-Academic football team.
Mr. Ruggiero excelled across the board at Huntington High School. He sported a near perfect academic average while taking honors and Advanced Placement courses and was on the high honor roll from seventh grade through graduation. His teachers described him as "a true leader who motivates and encourages his classmates at all times."
A member of many honor societies during high school, Mr. Ruggiero also participated in numerous community service and humanitarian initiatives. In attending college in the Boston area, the Huntington alum was returning to his birthplace. His parents lived there for ten years and moved to Huntington when the future Blue Devil star was three years old.
Founded in 1971, the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) consists of 11 liberal arts colleges. The member colleges include Amherst College, Bates College, Bowdoin College, Colby College, Connecticut College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Trinity College, Tufts University, Wesleyan University and Williams College.
To qualify for NESCAC All-Academic honors, a student-athlete must have reached sophomore academic standing and be a varsity letter winner with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.35.
Tufts (18-3) reached the NCAA Division III men's lacrosse tournament semi-finals this spring before dropping a 12-10 verdict to SUNY Cortland. Mr. Ruggiero, a 5'11, 185 lb. midfielder, appeared in 11 games for the Jumbos.