Courtesy of Cheri Blauwet Cheri Blauwet speeds around the track in preparation for her next race. Blauwet, a molecular and cellular biology senior, has won four Paralympic medals.

It's not uncommon to see student athletes who are scholars. But it is unusual to see a world-class athlete recognized as one of the most academically outstanding students in the country.

Cheri Blauwet is one of those students. But what makes her even more unusual is her sport: wheelchair racing.

Blauwet, a molecular and cellular biology senior who has won four Paralympic medals, was recently named one of 20 students in the country to win a spot on USA Today's 2002 All-USA College Academic Team.

Students who have excelled both academically and in leadership roles on and off campus are chosen for the academic team.

"Cheri is an amazing person because of her talent, her dedication to excellence and her easy and friendly way with people," said Karna Walter, assistant director of international studies and scholarships in the Honors College.

At the Sydney Paralympics in 2000, Blauwet - a paraplegic as a result of a spinal cord injury - won a silver medal in the 100-meter and bronze medals in the 200, 400 and 800-meter races.

"Cheri repeatedly sets the example for her teammates to follow, both in and out of the classroom, that's why she's team captain," said Derek Brown, the head coach of wheelchair track and road racing.

Beyond the track, though, Blauwet has excelled in the classroom - maintaining a 4.0 GPA - and is working to develop a non-profit organization to offer scholarships to disabled children from developing countries.

"(Blauwet) has no fear," Walter said. "She is willing to take on virtually any challenge, including a semester of study in Buenos Aires, Argentina; summer study in London; and advocacy for disability issues in the U.S. and abroad," Walter said.

Blauwet, along with three other students, is developing the International Institute Disability Advocacy, a non-profit organization that will offer University of Arizona scholarships to disabled students from developing countries.

Once at UA, they would participate in a special curriculum focusing on disability rights in America, which Blauwet said she hopes would serve as a springboard for those students to improve disability rights in their countries.

The organization she is starting now is the most meaningful of her achievements because it is a new creation, Blauwet said.

"Instead of jumping on the heels of something that already exists, (I am going to add something different)."

The board is hoping the first students will come to UA in 2004.

Blauwet became paraplegic as a result of a farm accident when she was a year old.

"My parents did everything they could to make me independent," she said.

Blauwet went to public school in Iowa and was not around other children with disabilities because of her rural setting, she said.

"I just saw myself as a normal kid and did normal kid things," she said.

It is important for parents to make kids with disabilities independent, Blauwet said.

She came to UA because it is one of only two universities with an Adaptive Athletics Team, which is offered through the Disability Resource Center.