Any Brookings resident who  hasn’t been living under a rock knows that Jordan Dykstra is a good basketball player, but he recently received an honor that takes into account far more than his accomplishments on the court. 

Dykstra was recently named a Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-American. The prestigious group is determined by the four ‘Cs’: character, community, competition and classroom. Success in all of those areas has led Dykstra to be included in the 10-member group of honorees as the first ever SDSU basketball player to make the list. 

“It’s pretty cool,” Dykstra said. “It definitely gives credence to all the hard work I put in while I was here.” 

Dykstra says his competitiveness growing up has not been limited to the court, but has instead spread to just about everything he does, wanting to be the best at everything from grades to jazz band, leading him to graduate as Salutatorian of his high school class. 

One of Dykstra’s many involvements at SDSU has been with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He is currently an officer, but his beginning with the committee happened rather coincidentally. 

“We needed someone to go to an Advisory Committee meeting in Chicago and I wasn’t even a part of SAAC at that time,” Dykstra said. “ I ended up saying, ‘yeah I’ll go to it.’ and I ended up getting involved in it that way.” 

SAAC led to one of Dykstra’s favorite memories, something that occurred following the Summit League’s Food Fight. 

“Going and giving all of our earnings that we made in the Food Fight to the Brookings food pantry, being able to present them with a check and that food was pretty cool,” Dykstra said. 

Beyond SAAC, Dykstra has involved himself with numerous organizations and projects such as Project Joy, Samaritan’s Feet, Project Robin Hood, Adopt a Family, Fast Break Clinic, Harvest Table and Jack the Vote. 

“It’s a full-time job plus some,” Dykstra said. “When you look at it, we’re putting in a lot of hours. It’s worth it in the end, being able to put that sort of stuff on your resume, but it definitely takes a lot of hard work while you’re doing it.” 

For his major at SDSU, Dykstra chose biology/pre-dentistry and has interest in becoming an oral surgeon. 

“I want to help people,” Dykstra said. “Getting into the medical profession is what I feel like I was made to do and what God has blessed me with, so really that’s the reason I got into it.” 

Despite the hours Dykstra has put into the community and making himself the best player he can be, he still has found the time to post a 3.71 GPA during his time at SDSU. 

“There is a lot of study time that goes into it,” Dykstra said. “You really have to be able to manage your time and know when you can study and when you can give it your all and be able to sit down and knock a few subjects out in one night, but it’s really just time management.” 

Dykstra is far from the only Jackrabbit athlete to find success in athletics and academics, something he attributes to the staff at SDSU. 

“I think our staff, not only our athletic staff, but the academic staff, they do everything they can to help you out and they really do everything possible to make sure you’re understanding concepts,” Dykstra said. “If you go in and talk to them, they take as much time as you need and that helps out a lot.” 

On the basketball court, Dykstra finished his Jackrabbit career by earning Second Team All-Summit League honors in 2012 and 2013 before making the jump to First Team All- Summit League in 2014. He was a key part of SDSU’s Summit League Championships and corresponding NCAA Tournament berths in 2012 and 2013. 

Though his SDSU career is over, as he looks into his future, Dykstra sees himself continuing with basketball and is currently training to reach that goal. 

“I’m looking to play overseas more than likely,” Dykstra said. “The NBA is a slim shot. I’m sure I’ll have a few NBA workouts this summer and hopefully get on the NBA