It's been a decade since the NCAA instituted its Academic Progress Rate (APR) system, a semester-by-semester measure of eligibility and retention of Division I student athletes, back in 2004.
 
And, while Tiger Hockey's remarkable score of 998 on a scale of 1,000 over the course of the last five years is a tough pace to match, the current seniors on the team are primed to rise to the challenge.
 
"It's really, really good," Greg Capell, senior associate director of athletics, says of the program's APR status. "That's very high. Obviously, a thousand would be perfect, but we're very close to that."
 
And Colorado College's seven seniors are doing their share to at least maintain the excellent standing. Upholding the program's tradition of success in the classroom, all seven will be eligible to march as part of the school's 2014 graduating class on Monday, May 19.
 
Each member of the group – which includes student assistant coach Dakota Eveland along with six active players – either has completed or is continuing to work on his senior thesis during time away from the rink this season. And in the following report, as they head into the home stretch of the 2013-14 campaign as well as their collegiate careers, each shares the basis of his senior thesis – in his own words.
 
In alphabetical order, here's what they had to say:
 
Jeff Collett – "I'm an economics major. My thesis advisor is Neal Rappaport. My thesis is on why cities want to host the Olympics. We're looking at economic indicators pre-, post- and during the Olympics, to see if there are any common trends or patterns that I can find. There's a lot of debate whether hosting the Olympics is a good thing for a city or not. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I think I'll probably find out that for most cases it will be a good thing."
 
Dakota Eveland – "I'm a history major. My thesis advisors are Susan Ashley and Dennis Showalter. My topic is based off the 'rules of engagement' in the Geneva Convention. The two examples I'm going to draw from are Operation Red Wings – Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor, the movie that just came out – and the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War. I'll look at distinguishing the difference between making what might seem as a right decision versus a necessary decision when it comes to killing innocent civilians."
 
Alexander Krushelnyski – "I wrote my thesis on attendance at the World Arena during CC hockey games. My thesis advisor was Maroula Khraiche. We had a lot of help from (athletics marketing director) Jess Bennett. She gave me a lot of the data. I looked basically at how all different types of things affect attendance at World Arena – like wins, goals for, goals against, how far you go into the post-season, whether we play Air Force at home or not. It was nothing earth shattering. But what I found was that the farther you go into the post-season, the bigger effect it has the next year's attendance. So those couple of years where the guys made it pretty far really made a big impact on the following years."
 
Eamonn McDermott – "I'm working with Kevin Rask. He was contacted by this outside data company, to look at the efficiency of coaches across the NCAA – most notably football and basketball. He's looking at which coaches do the best job of getting their players to the pros – not necessarily being drafted, as long as you play a game in the NBA or NFL. How we're doing it is we're going to look at what the player is ranked going into high school – whether it's three-star, four-star, five-star – on various websites like Rivals (Rivals.com), which is one we're using. And then, 'Are these five-stars just destined, no matter where they go (to college), are they going to go to the pros, versus three stars and four stars?' Because, as you well know, all these coaches make seven-figure contracts and are they really worth it? As universities justify their contracts through winning and revenue and enrollment, the ultimate goal for most of these players is to play professional sports. So where is the best place for them to go to fulfill their dream?
 
Michael Morin – "I am an economics major and my thesis advisor is Neal Rappaport. What I chose to write my thesis on is the economic impact of a city with a new sports venue. I kind of looked back all the way from Camden Yards (in Baltimore) to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. I'm trying to predict what the new Minnesota Vikings stadium will do to the economic development around the Minneapolis area."
 
Archie Skalbeck – "I'm an econ major. My thesis advisor is Vibha Kapuria-Foreman. My thesis is on the introduction of oil fracking in North Dakota and its effects on the agricultural economy of the state. I decided to do this because it's a pretty interesting topic and it's exciting to study what's going on up there in the Bakken Region right now."
 
Josh Thorimbert – "I'm a history major. My advisors are Anne Hyde and Dennis Showalter. I'm doing my thesis on Canadian involvement in World War II, focusing on the Dieppe and Normandy battles – basically comparing the two battles and why Dieppe was a failure for Canadian troops and then why Juneau Beach and the Normandy attack was a success and what Canada militarily learned through their mistakes as a country."