Smeltz, Terwilliger Selected as Big Ten Postgrad Scholarship Recipients

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Volleyball player Emma Terwilliger and pitcher Jackson Smeltz – multi-year Big Ten Distinguished Scholars that graduated in May – have been selected as Purdue Athletics’ recipients of the annual Big Ten postgraduate scholarships for the 2021-22 school year.

The Indiana natives will each receive a $7,500 scholarship for their continuing education. Smeltz is a Lafayette native and Terwilliger came to Purdue from the city of Valparaiso.

Terwilliger graduated with a 3.98 grade-point average as a neurobiology and physiology major. She has worked with the Purdue Center for Cancer Research with a focus on the rare cancer angiosarcoma, specifically the different protein levels in the disease along with specialized treatment plans for it. She has a career ambition of becoming a surgeon.

Smeltz graduated with a 3.70 GPA as an agribusiness major, earning a 4.0 mark during his final semester while serving as the ace of Purdue’s pitching staff. After racking up 79 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings this spring to eclipse a team record for strikeouts per nine innings that had stood since 1965, the lefthander is projected to be selected in the Major League Baseball Draft later this summer (July 17-19). He also has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining.

Since the Big Ten introduced the two postgraduate scholarships awarded to every institution at the end of the 2012-13 school year, Smeltz and Terwilliger are the first members of Purdue baseball and volleyball to be selected as recipients. They were both three-year Academic All-Big Ten honorees.

Smeltz was among Purdue’s four Academic All-America honorees during the 2021-22 school year as well as a third-team All-Big Ten performer. Smeltz has joined swimmer Lauren Gustafson (2013) as Boilermakers to be Academic All-America and All-Big Ten honorees during the same year they were selected as a Big Ten Postgraduate Scholarship recipient.

Purdue volleyball compiled a 90-31 record during Terwilliger’s four seasons, reaching a pair of Regional Finals at the NCAA Tournament. She played in 73 matches and 203 sets during her career.

Each Big Ten institution developed its own on-campus selection process when awarding the scholarship….