« Men’s Basketball 2013-14

Jordan Dykstra

School
South Dakota State
Position
Forward
Major
Biology/Pre-Dentistry
PPG
16
RPG
7.7
APG
1.9

Classroom

A Dean’s List honoree in every semester at South Dakota State, Dykstra earned a Capital One Academic All-District selection in 2013 and 2014 with a 3.71 cumulative GPA as a biology/Pre-dentistry major. He wants to eventually work as an oral surgeon, and has already shadowed a dentist and orthodontist, and hopes to take advantage of an opportunity to shadow an oral surgeon in the coming year. Dykstra is now a Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American as well as a two-time all-district selection.

Character

Now in his second year as a SAAC officer, Dykstra helped organize and/or participated in numerous events on campus and in the community. On campus, Dykstra organizes games and activities at a fall ice cream social for SDSU students each year, and encourages students to attend Jackrabbit events. He thanks them in the spring on Student Appreciation Day, when SAAC representatives serve ice cream to students at the student union to thank them for their support. SAAC also makes and distributes goodie bags for the athletic staff each spring. In addition to his on-campus efforts, Dykstra lends his talents to kids in the community. He reads with students at Hillcrest Elementary and plays with them in the ‘fun zone’ at football tailgates, part of ‘Jacks in the Backyard’. He also organized volunteers to build a float for the homecoming parade, and recruited volunteers to walk in the parade and interact with kids.To support his peers, Dykstra helped organize the “Rowdy Rabbits” an initiative for student-athletes to support each other’s teams by sitting together in the student section at games. He also encouraged student-athletes to register to vote and then to exercise that right in the 2012 elections, a non-partisan group called “Jack the Vote.”  He also volunteered to work at the Jackrabbit Athletic Scholarship Auction that raised more than $500,000 for athletic scholarships. Dykstra also helped spearhead a campus clean up. He organized volunteers to walk around campus and clean up trash, and he participated himself twice.

Community

Jordan understands the impact he can make on the community and in his case, the impact it can make beyond the borders of Brookings and even the United States. He took a lead role in raising money for the entire team to travel to Haiti with Samaritan’s Feet in the summer of 2013 to give kids in Haiti their first-ever pair of shoes. He and the team washed the feet of the kids and put a brand new pair of shoes and socks on them. They also brought food to the people in Haiti. He also helped assemble and pack solar ovens to send to the people in Haiti. Closer to home, Dykstra helped organize ‘Project Robin Hood” when student-athletes collect travel soap and shampoo from their travels to deliver to the Brookings Women’s shelter. He also plays a leadership role in “Project Joy” at Christmas, collecting toys and money for underprivileged families in the community, and in “Adopt A Family” when teams adopt families at Christmas. The SDSU SAAC won The Summit League’s “Food Fight” collecting over 25,000 pounds of food for the Brookings food pantry. Dykstra also volunteers his time to serve food to the needy at “Harvest Table” at a local church and participates at the “Fast Break Clinic” a youth basketball clinic every year on campus.

Competition

A starter in the last 61 games, Dykstra earned All-Summit League second team honors in each of the last two seasons in leading the Jackrabbits to a pair of Summit League titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. He added Summit League Championships all-tournament team honors in 2013. He averaged 12.5 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game as a junior and led the team with nine double-doubles. Dykstra battled through an early season injury to average 11.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore and 11.3 points and 5.1 rebounds as a freshman, when he earned Summit League All-Newcomer team honors. Dykstra finished his junior season ranked 23rd all-time at South Dakota State with 1,149 career points and enters his senior season ranked first all-time at SDSU with a .463 career 3-point field goal percentage. Additionally, he set the school record for consecutive 3-pointers made with 11 over a three game span in February 2012, including a perfect 5-for-5 game against Western Illinois on Feb. 23, 2012. Additionally, he set the school’s single-season record with a .515 3-point field goal percentage as a freshman in 2010-11 in going 34-for-66 from long range.