April 14, 2003

Seniors Tayo Agboke, a safety for the Kentucky football team, and Mindy Smith, a balance-beam specialist for the UK gymnastics team, each will receive $2,000 scholarships from the Southeastern Conference in recognition for their commitment and dedication to community service, announced SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.

Agboke is a two-year letterwinner on the gridiron for the Wildcats. He saw action in all 12 games in 2002, making a total of 18 tackles. During the previous spring, the Houston, Texas, native took time out of his busy schedule to join a number of outreach programs. Agboke spent time serving food at the Hope Shelter and reading to the children at Russell Cave Elementary. He was inducted into UK’s prestigious Frank G. Ham Society of Character earlier this semester.

Smith has been a perennial leader for the GymKats, posting top-three scores on the balance beam during all four of her years in Lexington. The team captain in 2002, Smith is the gymnastics’ representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. A 2002 Society of Character inductee, the Borden, Ind., product is on pace to become the fourth GymKat to earn Academic All-America honors for four straight years. Smith has been involved in over 30 outreach programs at UK, including Habitat for Humanity and Race for the Cure.

— UK —