Started the first Student-Athlete Mental Health Week at NMU
NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – The IWLCA (Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association) announced Taylor Priestley as one of just three student athletes across collegiate lacrosse to earn the 2025 IWLCA Community Awareness Award.
The individual Community Awareness Award recognizes those student-athletes who have contributed significantly to their community in a given academic year. These students have given their time and energy to support and develop athlete-community relations and have distinguished themselves from their peers.
Division II – Taylor Priestley, Northern Michigan University
Priestley, a senior Education major at Northern Michigan University, has earned the Division II Community Awareness Award for her groundbreaking leadership in promoting mental health awareness among student-athletes. Through her tireless work, Taylor has created impactful, sustainable programs that are transforming the campus culture at NMU. Taylor is the founder of the Beyond an Athlete blog, a platform that allows student-athletes to share their mental health journeys and stories in their own words. As co-founder of Cat’s Connect, NMU’s first student-athlete mental health awareness organization, Taylor has connected students with resources from national nonprofits like Hilinski’s Hope, Morgan’s Message, and The Hidden Opponent, while also securing university support and grant funding to expand their reach.
Her leadership has driven major initiatives including Student-Athlete Mental Health Week, QPR suicide prevention training, and multiple mental health awareness games for NMU athletics. She personally organized events like yoga sessions, therapy dog visits, and community service collaborations, all with a focus on wellness and destigmatizing mental health conversations. Taylor also played a key role in organizing a landmark event: “Tyler Talk: A Conversation with the Hilinskis“, which brought the founders of Hilinski’s Hope to NMU for the first time, offering support and education to over 300 athletes, coaches, and local community members.
Balancing all of this during her competitive season, Taylor has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to building a healthier, more compassionate athletic environment. Her passion, initiative, and impact make her a truly deserving recipient of the Community Awareness Award.
Hear from head coach Lindsey (LeMay) Majkrzak
“I am so proud of and overjoyed for Taylor for receiving this award. There is no one more deserving. She has made it her mission during her time here at NMU to make her community comfortable talking about athlete mental health and confronting their own struggles so that they may seek help.
She made this mission a reality through years of getting involved and working to put events into action that would help spark change. This work started with herself, then spread to our program (coaches included), and then to our athletic department as a whole.”
Community service accomplishments:
Priestley is a co-president of the NMU athlete mental health student organization Cat’s Connect, through this student organization she helped plan and accomplish the following:
– Separated Cats Connect from SAAC (the Student Athletic Advisory Committee) and turned it into an NMU student organization to access greater resources and impact more students.
– Planned and accomplished the first student-athlete mental health week at NMU in tandem with the national student athlete mental health week through the mental health awareness organization Hilinski’s Hope. The NMU student athlete mental health week included a different theme and activity for each day of the week all planned and organized by Cats Connect and SAAC.
– Organized several mental health awareness events at sporting events including Volleyball, Women’s Wrestling and her own team Women’s Lacrosse.
– Organized and accomplished bringing an outside speaker to NMU to speak to the athletic student body, which was one of the original goals of the creation of Cats Connect. The outside org was the Hilinski’s of Hilinski’s Hope. The Hilinskis met with coaches, staff, and community members during their visit to Marquette, and ended their trip with a presentation to student athletes. The event was the first of its kind on campus.
Outside of Cats Connect:
Priestley organized a mental health awareness week for the lacrosse team leading up to our mental health awareness game. Each day, the lacrosse team listened to a presentation about a different mental health organization and the resources it provided. We also completed a unique mental health activity during this week and created an individualized mental health awareness shooting shirt to wear for our mental health awareness game.
Taylor is the multi-year representative of the mental health organization The Hidden Opponent for NMU. Through this role she has been able to provide resources and content on athlete mental health awareness to athletes on her team and throughout NMU athletics.
Taylor created a student athlete mental health awareness blog called “Beyond an Athlete”. This blog has allowed her to give her fellow athletes a platform to tell their stories outside of sport. This blog is posted to the Center of Community and Connection website under “Beyond an Athlete”, and is reposted to the SAAC social media pages.
“Taylor will leave NMU better than she found it when she graduates in December,” added head coach Majkrzak, “and then it will be our job to continue this important work with the tools that she’s left us.”
Hear from Emily Meier – Director of Case Management Services of the NMU CARE Team
CARE stands for “Case Administration and Resource Education,” but in simple terms, the CARE Team is a group of people who are available to support and guide any student at NMU who is going through a difficult time – whether it be academically, emotionally or psychologically.
The CARE Team is different than our Counseling and Consultation Services; CARE Team members work with you using a case management model to help you achieve your desired outcome. Think of them as your personal champion to help guide you through whatever you’re dealing with, while keeping you accountable to the commitment you made to yourself.
You can utilize the CARE Team as little, or as much, as you need! The CARE Team is not a disciplinary entity, it’s a collection of people available to support your wellbeing. Led by Emily Meier and comprised of personnel with expertise in student affairs, academic affairs, human resources, mental and physical health, student conduct and campus safety, the CARE Team is there to address the unique needs and challenges students may face.
“Taylor’s advocacy got Cats Connect off the ground in Winter 2025 as an official student organization that supports students’ complete wellbeing,” adds Meier. “As a co-president, Taylor was instrumental in setting up a QPR training for student athletes, bringing the Hilinski’s Hope speakers to campus, and collaborating with Green Athletes to promote sustainable activities for athletes.
While Cats Connect was under the SAAC leadership board in 2024, Taylor supported her fellow athletes with Student Athlete Mental Health Awareness Week programming and care packages and starting the blog “Beyond an Athlete” to promote more discussion around student athletes’ identity beyond their sport; Taylor passed her blog onto another athlete who will continue Taylor’s mission of giving athletes a voice.
Her planning, dedication, and passion for wellbeing led to Cats Connect to have a monthly focus for events and speakers on each dimension of wellbeing throughout the 2025-26 school year.”
