LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – In exclusive voting
by the senior woman administrators of the conference, Rachel
Thibodeau of Southwestern University has been selected as the 2013
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Woman of the Year. By
earning this honor, Thobodeau will be designated as the
conference’s nominee for the 23rd annual NCAA Woman of the
Year Award.
Thibodeau is the first student-athlete from Southwestern
University to earn the SCAC Woman of the Year honor. A Psychology
Major and the owner of a perfect 4.00 grade-point average, she
received a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in the fall – the
only SCAC student-athlete to be selected during the fall sports
period and one of just 58 total recipients. She was also honored as
a Phi Beta Kappa inductee and was a Capital One Academic
All-America® First Team honoree this fall.
A native of Richardson, Texas, Thibodeau was a First Team All-SCAC
volleyball student-athlete her junior and senior seasons,
culminating with her selection as SCAC Player of the Year and a
Third Team AVCA All-American this season. She was an Honorable
Mention All-American selection in 2011.
Thibodeau posted 392 kills (second in the SCAC) and 351 digs
during the 2012 campaign, and her efforts helped lead the Pirates
to a 24-12 record and an NCAA tournament berth – the eighth
consecutive postseason trip for the program.
"Rachel epitomizes a true Division III student-athlete,”
said Southwestern head volleyball coach Hannah Long. “I'm
proud that her drive in the classroom and on the court has been
recognized recently with the NCAA Postgraduate scholarship and now
by the conference as the SCAC Woman of the Year. Beyond the easily
recognizable GPA and game statistics, Rachel is a great leader and
teammate. I've enjoyed coaching her for four years and she will
definitely be missed."
Thibodeau ended her four-year career with the Pirates with 1,249
kills and 1,350 digs and currently holds three SU single-match
records. She was a member of the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team
in 2010 and 2011.
In addition to her successes on the court and her studies in the
classroom, Thibodeau filled her little spare time with various
campus and community service activities. While at Southwestern she
served as President of Psi Chi, a Psychology National Honor
Society, was Vice-President of Alpha Chi National Honor Society and
Secretary of Sigma Phi Lambda Christian Sorority. She was also a
member of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership society, and
served as a teaching assistant within the Southwestern University
Department of Psychology. Additionally, she was a SU Peer Mentor
and was a summer intern for four years at the University of Texas
at Dallas Center for Brain Health where she was the lead author on
a research publication in 2012.
Away from campus, Thibodeau served as an adult volunteer with King
of Glory Youth Group and also volunteered with Relay for Life,
Angel Tree, a Week of Hope and Special Olympics. In addition,
Thibodeau has worked as a volleyball mentor and as a camp counselor
– both at Southwestern and at Canyon Vista Middle School. She
has served as a Science mentor and an English tutor and has also
volunteered with children in the Greater Georgetown community
through a local wellness program.
“One of the most important lessons I have learned as a
student-athlete is that when faced with a challenge, it is selfish
to fear the situation, leading you to hold back all you have to
offer,” said Thibodeau. “When I came to this
realization, I began to selflessly face rather than fear the
challenges set before me. In doing so, I found myself achieving
more and felt I was better able to reach out to others through
leadership and community service which are inherently
challenging.”
As the SCAC Woman of the Year winner, Thibodeau will be nominated
for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, one of the most prestigious
honors the NCAA bestows. The award recognizes senior
student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their
collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics
excellence, service and leadership.
Ruth Hahn of Trinity University (swimming & diving) was the
other nominee considered for SCAC Woman of the Year.
The conference nominee will be forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the
Year selection committee. The selection committee will choose the
top 10 nominees in each division. From among those 30 honorees, the
selection committee will determine the top three in each division.
Finally, the members of the NCAA Committee on Women’s
Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to
determine the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The top 10 honorees and the nine finalists from Divisions I, II
and III will be honored and the 2013 NCAA Woman of the
Year winner will be announced at a dinner in Indianapolis, on
October 20, 2013.
Last year, Rhodes College’s Sharwil Bell became the second
consecutive and third overall SCAC Woman of the Year honoree
selected as a Top 30 honoree. Trinity University's Hayley Emerick
became the league's second-ever top nine finalist in 2011.
Trinity's Christyn Schuman was the first SCAC top-nine finalist for
the NCAA Woman of the Year award in 2006.
In conjunction with the changes in the nomination process for the
NCAA Woman of the Year award, the Southern Collegiate Athletic
Conference Woman of the Year award was established for the 2005-06
athletics season. Beginning in 2006, the NCAA Committee on
Women’s Athletics (CWA) started receiving
conference-designated nominees in lieu of the previous institution-
and state-based nomination format.
To read about past winners of the SCAC Woman-of-the-Year award,
click here.