Each year two awards are given to outstanding Ursuline Academy St. Louis Alumnae. The Distinguished Alumna Award is presented to an alumna who exemplifies in her public and private life the Christian ideals and standards of Ursuline, for distinguished service in her profession or to her community or to Ursuline Academy. The annual Young Alumna Serviam Award honors an outstanding alumna who, through her service, leadership, and achievement, embodies the Serviam spirit of an Ursuline Academy education. Both of these awards celebrate and highlight Ursuline women who live their lives as St. Angela did; actively living out her values, and reaching out into her community, and setting a new path forward for those entrusted in her care. This year, Ursuline Academy and the Alumnae Association is thrilled to announce our 2021 recipients of both of these awards:
Theresa Kaiser ’07 and Liz Kaiser Dwyer ’10 have been chosen as the 2021 Recipient of the Distinguished Alumna Award.
Madeline Senay ’12 has been chosen as the 2021 Recipient of the Young Alumna Serviam Award.
As dedicated alumnae of Ursuline, Theresa and Liz take great pride in their coaching of the Ursuline varsity soccer team for more than 6 years. They played soccer at Ursuline in their early years and have brought their talents to the students of today, leading the team to win the Class 2 State Soccer Title in June of 2021. This was a historic moment in the school’s history deserving of much celebration and accolades by the community. Coach Jen Brooks had confidence in them, and they poured their hearts, passion, and knowledge of the game into their athletes who faced a very difficult year and yet came out on top. “As accomplished athletes themselves, they know the value of having a strong cheering section and they always made sure we had a strong cheering section at [any Ursuline game] they attended. As another Ursuline alumna/coach I really appreciated seeing their passion for the Ursuline sisterhood still so strong and prominent,” said Nora Brooks ’16 of the sisters.
As a high school student at UA, she played sports and was active in many activities, including leadership within her youth group and many looked up to her for her talks about faith, teen issues, and values. Madeline also explored these issues through the Diversity Team and as she entered the University of Missouri studying social work. After her graduation, she worked as an Addiction Recovery Technician at Compass Health in Columbia until she began at the University of Michigan to receive her Masters in Social Work where she continued to serve as Psychiatric Social Work Intern. From there, Madeline applied to be a Peace Corps Youth Development Volunteer in Ukraine where she served for 27 months working with youth, particularly affected by its war with Russia in an area very near the armed conflicts. She learned Russian to speak with the students and even organized a camp for HIV-positive children to help educate and give volunteers the skills to run the camps after she returned to the States. Now back in St. Louis, Madeline sees a full caseload of teens and adults at Sound Mind Therapy as a Social Worker. She is earning her certificate in Cognitive Processing Therapy to be able to better support people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
For more information, please visit our website: www.ursulinestl.org/reuions