At the top of his game in academics as well as in sports, Brooklyn Campus senior Lee McGrath traveled early this year for several weeks in South Africa, where he got to combine his twin loves of journalism and golf. The journalism major covered professional tournaments and met long-idolized players as well as professional reporters thanks to support from South African Airways and a Kruglak Award in International Reporting awarded to him by his department.

A member of the University Honors Program, the 22-year-old Canadian native also is a notable force on the links – he is co-captain of the Campus’ men’s golf team and the first in Long Island University golfing history to make the Northeast All-Conference Team.

Besides interviewing golfers, McGrath met with students at universities in Cape Town and Witwaterands. Hearing that there are certain schools where black students face corporal punishment, “made me aware that the mentality associated with apartheid is far from over,” he said.