SALEM, Va. - Penn State Harrisburg women's basketball player Kendis Butler has been named a finalist for the prestigious Jostens Trophy, as announced by the Rotary Club of Salem, Va. on Wednesday morning.

Butler is the first player in both school and program history to earn the distinction. She is one of 10 NCAA Division III women's basketball players named a finalist for the most outstanding player of the year accolade.

The Jostens Trophy honors - one for men's basketball and one for women's basketball - are national awards created by the Rotary Club of Salem and sponsored by Jostens, Inc., to recognize the most outstanding men's and women's Division III basketball players of the year. The awards focus on three major criteria: basketball ability, academic prowess, and service to one's surrounding communities. The Jostens Trophy models the Rotary International motto of "Service Above Self" by recognizing those who truly fit the ideal of a well-rounded Division III student-athlete. The 2023 season marks the 25th time the Jostens Trophy honors will be awarded.

The most-decorated player in program history, Butler completed her illustrious career as the NCAA Division III active leader in 3-point field goals. The York, Pa. native ranked 19th across all three NCAA divisions with 295 career triples and her 3-point total ranks her 26th all-time in Division III history. The versatile guard was named to the City of Basketball Love (CoBL) All-Area Second Team a year ago and she recently became the first player in program history to earn all-conference honors on three occasions, securing a pair of United East All-Conference First-Team distinctions to go along with a second-team moniker. Earlier this season, the senior became Penn State Harrisburg's all-time leading scorer (1,277 points) and she holds numerous program records, including career field goals (382), career 3-point field goals, points in a single season (424), points in a single game (33), and 3-pointers in a single contest (10). 

A three-year team captain, Butler has also been outstanding in the classroom throughout her career. She recently joined teammate Jayla Galbreath as the first players in program history to earn College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District accolades thanks to their combination of athletic and academic success. She's garnered four straight conference all-academic awards dating back to her rookie campaign and is on pace to earn a fifth following the conclusion of the 2022-23 academic year. She serves as the student representative to Penn State Harrisburg's Faculty Athletics Senate Committee and has contributed to four CSC Publication & Digital Design award-winning graphics as a student-worker for the sports information department. The Communications major and American Studies minor currently holds a stellar 3.96 cumulative GPA and is set to graduate in May.  

Penn State Harrisburg's Student-Athlete Leadership Council Chair (SALC), Butler is also a member of the United East Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). This past fall, she helped aid a Ukrainian refugee family that relocated to Enola, Pa. following the Russian invasion of the country by helping clean and renovate a house to be move-in ready, collecting and moving in furniture, and painting bedrooms. In January, she helped organize an assembly at nearby Susquehanna Township Middle School in which Penn State Harrisburg student-athletes mentored at-risk students hoping to play sports in college. In February, she spearheaded a canned food drive that collected more than 160 items for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and Penn State Harrisburg's on-campus food pantry. In each of the past two years, she joined fellow Penn State Harrisburg student-athletes in visiting nearby Middletown Area elementary schools and reading to students on National Read Across America Day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led an initiative to design and distribute handwritten greeting cards to senior citizens quarantined at a local retirement home.

The finalists will be reviewed by the Jostens Trophy National Selection Committee. The committee is composed of men and women from across the country. The committee features current and former athletic administrators and head coaches, past Jostens Trophy recipients, and select members of the Division III media. The committee will spend the next two weeks reviewing the nominees with the aim of announcing the two winners on Thursday, March 23.

Listed below are the finalists for the 2023 Jostens Trophy awards (listed alphabetically by last name):