STANFORD, Calif. – Women's volleyball alumna Tami Alade ('19) and men's swimming alum True Sweetser ('21) have been named recipients of Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarships for the 2020-21 academic year, the conference announced today.
The scholarships, worth $9,000 each, are awarded to up to two student-athletes from each Pac-12 school annually. Student-athletes awarded this scholarship plan to pursue postgraduate education in best-in-class graduate programs at some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, including several Pac-12 universities.
Alade, who played for Stanford from 2015-18, was a two-time AVCA All-American and two-time NCAA champion (2016, 2018). A CoSIDA Academic All-American as a senior, Alade finished her career with the Cardinal as the program's all-time leader in blocks per set (1.55) and third in school history with a .399 attack percentage. The 2018 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, she was also a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award and a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection.
Alade graduated with a degree in human biology with a 3.60 GPA in 2019. She has been working as a health associate alongside a pediatrician as a school for early education in East Palo Alto. She works to support families in accessing the health systems, promoting key health behaviors and embed a culture of health education within school programming. She has been accepted to Georgetown University's School of Medicine and plans to use her scholarship for medical school tuition. She eventually hopes to pursue a career in the field of pediatrics working in underserved communities to provide better care and access for families living in those populations.
Sweetser is a four-time All-American and long-distance swimmer for the U.S. national team. He was the 1,500-meter champion at the 2017 Phillips 66 Nationals and earned a spot on the World Championships team. A seven-time under-18 national champ, Sweetser has competed for the U.S. in international competition since 2015. In 2019, he became the 11th fastest competitor in the U.S. history in the 1,500 meters. Though he qualified for the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, Sweetser chose to end his swimming career with his Stanford teammates this spring.
Sweetser graduated in June with a major in history and a minor in Slavic languages and literature. He will further his interests in Russian history and literature while working toward his master's in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at Stanford. Sweetser hopes to attend law school and eventually work for an American corporate law firm with offices in Russia.
In 1999, the Postgraduate Scholarship Program was created to both honor and financially assist some of the conference's most outstanding athletes and scholars as they continue their educations and prepare for careers in their chosen industries. Through its institutional selection process, each Pac-12 institution may select two current or former student-athletes to be awarded the scholarship.
To be eligible, student-athletes have maintained a minimum 3.0 grade-point average and demonstrated a commitment to education, campus and community involvement, and leadership.