STANFORD, Calif. – Senior Matt Anderson has been named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as announced by the conference Wednesday.
"By winning this award, Matt has once again proven what an outstanding student-athlete he has been over four terrific years with us," said the Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming Ted Knapp. "He has been our go-to guy on all medley relays since his freshman year, and has always made an outstanding effort to be involved in the community to better the lives of his teammates and those around him. Matt has always taken his academic workload very seriously and this award is well-deserved."
A qualifier for all three NCAA Championship meets he has been eligible for, Anderson is a six-time All-American and 11-time top-10 finisher at the Pac-12 Championships. On track to graduate with a degree in human biology, Anderson served as team captain for the 2017-18 season and was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic first team in 2017 and 2018, adding CSCAA Academic All-America honors in 2017.
Throughout his four years on The Farm, Anderson has been heavily involved in the movement to spread awareness about mental health. Anderson helped plan and organize the first annual GameFACES, a platform for Stanford student-athletes to share their stories about mental health – the event is now in its third year. Anderson has also served as co-president of Cardinal RHED, a group dedicated to improving the lives of student-athletes on topics of mental health prevention, wellness practices, body image and injury, from 2016-19.
Anderson served as Stanford's Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) representative at a conference with the Pac-12 in 2018, which involved the development of leadership programs and conference legislation. A student ambassador and fundraising coordinator with the Movember Foundation during 2018-19, Anderson represented Stanford at the 2018 APPLE Conference, which was aimed at preventing substance abuse on Stanford's campus.
In 2018, Anderson served on a student-athlete panel to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and was one of four current student-athletes to participate in a panel with the University's Board of Trustees in 2019.
Anderson has also participated in annual events such as Cardsgiving, a thanksgiving-theme outreach program to promote physical activity for children in the Palo Alto area, A, B, Trees, an event promoting literacy for under-privileged kids in the Bay Area and Reading Bonanza, an event in East Palo Alto promoting reading among youth.