San Francisco, CA – It was quite the week for one Ms. Andrea Nieto.

Mere days after becoming one of the first Urban Knight women's golfers ever to compete in the post-season, Nieto was awarded a summer internship with BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP, a global fashion house, at the 2013 Academy of Art University Graduate Fashion Show.

"This is extremely crazy because we got added into the show only a month ago," Nieto said. "This just assures me that hard work pays off. It is possible to be a truly successful student-athlete."

On stage in front of a capacity crowd inside the Palace of Fine Arts on Thursday evening, Nieto's name was called for the prestigious honor much to the delight of her teammates and head coach Cheryl Lala who attended in support of the senior Textile Design major. Always on the forefront of fashion, BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP is the premier lifestyle collection for the modern woman and the fashion house itself encompasses over 20 unique brands.
 
"Being able to see the end product of Andrea Nieto's hard work was a treat within itself, but when they announced that she was awarded the summer internship with BCBG, I couldn't have been more proud of her and the hard work that she has done on and off the golf course," Director of Athletics Colin Preston said. "Andrea is the epitome of an artist-athlete. We are honored to have her in the Urban Knight family and wish her the best of luck this summer. I would also like to say that the Academy of Art University and the Fashion Department put on an extraordinary event last night that not only showed the talent of our students, but the commitment that our university has to their success."
  However, this honor was not the first for Nieto this year. In February, Nieto's outstanding textile design led her to be selected as a finalist for the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund. She was awarded the $10,000 Geoffrey Beene runner-up scholarship following a competitive selection process of essays, creative presentations, and interviews.

In the culmination of a collegiate career that saw her pioneer the ART U women's golf program for four years, Nieto found herself in Grand Junction, Colorado earlier this week as a participant in the NCAA Division II Women's Golf Super Regionals. Reaching such a stage in just the first season that Academy of Art was post-season eligible, Nieto and the Urban Knights proudly represented the program with the best of their three days on the course to close out play on Tuesday.

"There are not enough words to express how incredibly proud I am of Andrea for her work and dedication to Academy of Art in both academic and athletic capacities," Coach Lala said. "In my eyes, she is the true epitome of a successful artist-athlete. Her textile work has received several honors in the fashion industry while she has represented the Urban Knights in every competition the women's golf team has ever played, in the four years of the program's existence. She has been a team captain for two years, NCAA Academic All American for three years, and an inspiration to her teammates every year. Like I said above, I'm extremely proud to have coached her."

Nieto will begin her internship with BCBGMAXAZRIA this summer.