March 1, 2018, the National Collegiate Equestrian Association released a press communication naming the recipients of the 2018 NCEA Distinguished Alumni Awards.For this award, every team nominated one alumni in each category. I won the award for the Business category, alongside my great friend and fellow TCU teammate Milana Brown (who won the Community Engagement category) and my friend/colleague Abigail Boatwright (who won Media & Communication).

On April 20, 2018, I attended a reception generously put on by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics and later accepted the prestigious award from Dr. Amy Wilson, NCAA Director of Inclusion, and Dr. Leah Fiorentino, Executive Director of the NCEA.

It took me over a month to sit down and put this together because I am still processing what this experience meant to me. I have truly never been more humbled, or more grateful.

Being a TCU Equestrian alumni is my proudest accomplishment. I wear my time there with pride: it isn’t something I felt that I earned, but that I was gifted.

I love this sport. Being an equestrian shaped who I am today and launched my career. It fulfills me personally and professionally beyond my wildest dreams. I offer my deepest gratitude to Dr. Wilson, who came to the National Championship to support Equestrian within the NCAA, to Dr. Fiorentino who is advocating to grow this sport within the NCAA, to Texas Christian University for my academic and athletic scholarships to accompany the greatest experience I could have imagined inside and outside of the classroom, to the TCU horses who I fell deeply in love with, and to my coaches and teammates who became my greatest support system.

I am so blessed, so humbled, and so honored.

Here is a full list of winners for the 2018 NCEA Distinguished Alumni Awards: