Lancaster, Pa. – On Tuesday morning, the Atlantic East Conference announced two recipients of The Medal of Inspiration award: Marymount University’s Emily Peters and Marywood University’s Jake Schuster. 
 
The Medal of Inspiration, an award created to honor individuals that battled through adversity to become stronger versions of themselves, was awarded to two individuals who handled their separate battles with resilience and grace. More on the honor here.

Emily's Journey...
On December 23rd, 2021, a few weeks before the start of her senior lacrosse season at Marymount, Emily Peters' cousin, Olivia “Liv” Peters
was killed in a car accident. Liv was not just Emily’s cousin; she was her best friend and role model. She was also extremely supportive of Emily and her lacrosse career. Due to the involvement of a professional athlete, the death of Liv was very difficult for Emily as it was shared widely on social media and national news platforms.

Emily was advised to take as much time off as she needed to be with her family. Coach Kate Athing came to terms with Emily pontentially needing to take time off during the season or the whole season entirely. Instead, Emily did not miss a single practice or team commitment. She showed up and worked hard despite struggling daily to come to terms with the loss of her best friend.

Emily Peters showed an unwavering resilience during the 2022 women's lacrosse season. Emily used the loss of her cousin to become more open and vulnerable with her teammates which also opened her eyes to a new perspective on life. She used her platform as a student-athlete to pay tribute to her cousin by organizing the inaugural "Live like Liv" women's lacrosse game. Emily remained positive, competitive, and most importantly,
stepped up as a great leader and teammate in the wake of such a tragedy.

Jake’s Journey...
Shortly after the end of the truncated 2021 baseball season, Jake’s mother insisted that he get a scab on his lower ankle looked at by a doctor. Its growth had rightfully concerned her. Soon after his appointment with a dermatologist, test results came back positive in June for melanoma in his lower leg.

During the summer, unable to walk on his own, Schuster sent Coach Jason Thiel a text message that contained just two words: “It spread.” The skin cancer spread to a lymph node. Surgeons removed a baseball-sized hole off of his leg. In the months that followed, Jake had instances of infections. He had to get his leg repacked and resutured. Physical therapy was necessary to get him off of crutches, let alone a baseball field.

He took a leave of absence from Marywood during the fall semester. Still, he was eager to finish his collegiate career at Pacers Park after a close contact with a Covid-positive student literally pulled him out of the season opener and off the field for the first week of a shortened season. For Jake, it was at the point where he was 50/50 whether he was going to play baseball in 2022. Even if so, there were questions of how much he would be able to participate. Coaches considered options of utilizing him as a part-time player as he went through his physical therapy and treatments. On top of it, Schuster was concerned with compromising himself during the heights of the Covid-19 pandemic, putting himself at risk by spending time with his teammates and roommates.

Remarkably, Schuster returned to Scranton for the spring semester. While still undergoing cancer treatments, the graduate student first baseman played all but one of the Pacers’ 37 games. Once per month, Schuster underwent immunotherapy. There were days when Jake would undergo treatments in Philadelphia during the morning, and then drive two-and-a-half hours to Scranton to play a game that afternoon or the following day. To return to his platoon at first base after battling cancer is remarkable in and of itself. To return to his All-American form is another.

Schuster was selected the Atlantic East Conference’s Player of the Year. He led the Atlantic East in batting average,OPS, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage. His numbers at the plate were – for lack of a better word – unbelievable for a player that only six months prior had first come off crutches and 10 months earlier learned of his melanoma diagnoses. Schuster pulled together a .403 batting average with a .522 OBP, .694 SLG and 1.126 OPS. His 50 hits included 10 doubles, four triples and six home runs for 30 home runs. He committed just one error on the
season. The Lansdale, Pa. native captured the third First Team All-Conference laurel of his career. Among all active Division III hitters, Schuster ranked eighth in doubles (54), ninth in extra-base hits (379), 11th in triples (14), 13th in RBIs (156), 22nd in home runs (26) and 24th in walks (96). He undoubtedly leaves his mark at Marywood as the career leader in games played, at-bats, runs, hits, RBIs, doubles, home runs, walks, slugging
percentage, on-base percentage, OPS, and hitting streak. He was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 4 First Team in 2020.

Schuster is the lone Marywood student-athlete to ever be named All-American by a coaches association in 2018. He was a D3Baseball.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region in 2018 and 2019 Schuster’s commitment to his teammates, university and coaches serves as an inspiration to all student-athletes.

To become the conference’s top player through treatments, through bleak outlook of the fall away from campus showcases his determination, devotion and passion to baseball. Jake could have easily hung up his cleats and called it a career when he learned of his diagnosis. Instead, he hit it to opposite field.