Needham Selected as NECC’s Nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year

BOSTON, Mass. - Recent Wheelock College graduate Kate Needham (North Conway, N.H.), a two-year captain of the women's cross country and men's tennis teams, has been selected as the New England Collegiate Conference's (NECC) nominee for the 20th annual NCAA Woman of the Year award.

A record 452 females from across the NCAA's three divisions were nominated for the accolade, which honors recently graduated senior student-athletes who distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academic achievement, athletics excellence, community service and leadership. Needham was among 143 from Division III and one of 28 from the division's New England institutions.

"Kate typifies what it means to be a Division III student-athlete," said NECC Commissioner Del Malloy. "Her impressive academic accomplishments, athletic performance, leadership on and off campus, and commitment to making this world a better place through her unending involvement in meaningful community service projects are all examples of what is possible when you set your personal bar so high. Through her actions, Kate is a role model that I only hope others will try to emulate."

To be eligible for the award, female student-athletes must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end of the 2010 spring season, graduated no later than the end of the summer 2010 term and achieved a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.50. The top 10 honorees per division will be announced later this month, followed by each division's the top three honorees in September. On October 17, the top 30 honorees and the nine finalists from Divisions I, II and III will be honored and the 2010 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis.

A captain of two recent start-up programs, Needham ran cross country during the squad's first two seasons, becoming the Wildcats' first all-conference finisher by placing among the top 10 at both the 2008 and 2009 NECC Championships. She helped the team tie for second during her senior campaign. Needham captained the tennis squad each of her two seasons, participating for a men's team established her sophomore year. The Wildcats earned the NECC Sportsmanship Award her senior spring. Needham was also academic all-conference twice in both sports.

"Kate embodied not just the core values of this department but the mission of the college," said Diana Cutaia, Wheelock's director of athletics and sport-based initiatives. "She led through her actions and example, and was always positive and unwavering in her commitment. Kate gave 100 percent to everything she did, and we are humbled that she is an alumna of this department and college. She truly is inspiring a world of good."

Needham, who began a 27-month mission in Mali through the Peace Corps in July, was a member of Wheelock's Make-A-Wish Talent Show committee for three years and organized a charity yard sale the past four years. In addition to working the last three Boston Marathons, Needham provided holiday gifts for children through Angels and Elves in North Conway, N.H., for six years and was a counselor at Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine, for three more. In 2010, she participated in the Wheelock Athletic Department's Walk 4 Haiti fundraiser.

In 2009, Needham taught English to school children in Nepal after taking part in a Semester at Sea service trip two years prior, aiding in the construction of libraries, teaching English, and volunteering in orphanages and hospitals in nine different Central and South American countries. She also earned the Semester at Sea's service award for her work as the program's children's coordinator.

A president and vice president of Wheelock's chapter of the Pi Gamma Mu international honor society in social sciences, the Dean's List student spent four years as a resident assistant - being named Resident Assistant of the Year in 2009 - and peer tutor. In 2008, she taught at Brookline's Pierce School and interned in Harvard University's Laboratory for Developmental Studies. The following year, Needham was an intern in the Developmental Medicine Center at Children's Hospital Boston before presenting findings from her stint as a transnationalism research assistant at the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) Conference in Toronto. Needham interned at the Massachusetts State House under Rep. Catherine Clark last spring.

For her athletic leadership, Needham twice earned the men's tennis coach's award and the women's cross country Wildcat Award. A human development major, who minored in community-based human services, Needham competed in intramural sailing and tennis in the Colleges of the Fenway program her first two years.


Courtesy of Wheelock Sports Information