With a demonstrated drive toward outstanding citizenship and engagement in her campus and community, Chico State women's golfer Taylor Stewart has been named the 2021-22 CCAA Impact Award recipient.
 
Created in 2015-16, the Impact Award recognizes a single CCAA student-athlete who has exemplified leadership through participation in community service and engagement activities while maintaining a dedication to academics and athletics. Selections are made by the conference's 12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC).
 
"Taylor demonstrates a tremendous work ethic, is extremely dependable, and displays the utmost professionalism in all her interactions with staff, students, and faculty," said Chico State SWA Shannon Hall. "She understands the unique sensitivity around mental health and works daily to continue implementing our mental health campaign. Taylor goes above and beyond and always considers what is best for her fellow student-athletes."
 
The Oakdale native has made an impact on the Chico State SAAC program as she has stepped into a leadership role as just a sophomore. This past year, Stewart organized fundraising for the Joy of Giving program during the holiday season and helped bring in over $800 to purchase gifts for three small children. Stewart also serves as the SAAC social media coordinator. She organizes campaigns for various thematic months, including Women's History Month and National Nutrition month, to promote diversity within the athletic program, university, and community. She engages with the community by highlighting local business and professional opportunities to allow student-athletes to grow their professional development.
 
Stewart just completed her second season with the Chico State women's golf team. She played in all 11 tournaments and averaged a team-best 79.21 strokes per round. Stewart paced the Wildcats in scoring at the CCAA Championships with a 237 (+21) and finished 15th on the individual leaderboard. Her best finish came at the Bay Area Invitational, where she tied for sixth place.
 
The Business Marketing major is just as engaged in the campus community as in athletics. She serves as a "campus captain" for The Hidden Opponent via the Victoria Gerrick foundation; focuses on creating a culture open to talking about student-athlete mental health by putting on educational events and spreading positivity. She helped facilitate a "de-stress" event in December 2021, where she highlighted the importance of talking about mental health and all student-athletes engaged in a yoga session. At the conclusion of the session, Stewart provided each student-athlete a green ribbon to indicate their acceptance of the Hidden Opponent objective to "speak up" about mental health.

"Taylor is so deserving to be the 2021-22 CCAA Impact Award recipient," said Chico State's head women's golf coach Heather Fegley. "Since she joined our program in 2019, she’s not only made an impact as a player but also as a teammate. Even as a rookie she quickly stepped into a leadership role on our team and has since been a guiding force for our up-and-coming players. Her eagerness to engage in all that being a student-athlete has to offer has had an infectious impact on our program. You can always depend on Taylor to be a great sounding board for any problems you may be facing—especially when it comes to mental health. Her role as our “Campus Captain” for the Hidden Opponent has been so important and I look forward to seeing her continue to blossom in this role and create major change within our campus community."
 
Through her work as a Campus Captain, this student has aided in the development of our "Scratch the Stigma" culminating event in May 2022. Here athletics contracted with an external speaker to talk about strategies and techniques for positive self-talk as a student-athlete.
 
As part of the women's golf team, Stewart and her teammates are active in the Chico community, putting on various women's clinics to help the elderly improve their golf game. Stewart has also collected canned foods for the conference's annual food drive and engaged in the Walk to End Alzheimers foundation for three years.
 
Stewart also stands out in the classroom, where she continually receives accolades for her accomplishment. In her career, she has earned CCAA All-Academic Honors, the D2ADA Academic Achievement Award, and a WGCA All-American Scholar Team selection.
 
To be considered for the CCAA Impact Award, candidates must participate in community service and engagement activities as a member of their team as well as outside of team activities and demonstrate actions that exemplify leadership.

CCAA Impact Award Winners                                
2015-16: Lindsey Armstrong, Cal State Dominguez Hills (women's soccer)
2016-17: Haley Kroll, Chico State (women's cross country/track & field)
2017-18: Andrew Dirks, UC San Diego (men's track & field)
2018-19: Claire Wayne, Chico State (softball)
2019-20: Nadia Torkman, Chico State (women's track & field)
2020-21: Faith Baumgartner, Cal State LA (women's soccer)
2021-22: Taylor Stewart, Chico State (women's golf)