Athletics Equity Initiatives Fund
With a mission in mind, a tight-knit group of friends came together to make a joint leadership gift to establish a new fund at Trinity dedicated to supporting equity in women’s athletics. Those behind this initiative are Billy Hogan ’96 and Jennifer Martinelli Hogan ’98, Sam Kennedy ’95, H’19 and Amanda Johnson Kennedy ’94, Susan Rost Monahan ’93 and Jay Monahan ’93, and Dan Sullivan ’99 and Kate McLaren Sullivan ’99.
Upon learning about plans to create the fund, two additional Trinity couples—James Kennedy ’99 and Tamara Wiley Kennedy ’97 and Brendan Monahan ’95 and Abigail Hudson Monahan ’94—joined in with contributions, too. Jamie is Sam Kennedy’s brother and Brendan is Jay Monahan’s brother.
All 12 alumni —all of whom graduated in the 1990s, met their spouses at Trinity, and participated on Bantam sports teams—attest that their time as Trinity students and athletes had a tremendous influence on their lives. Trinity is where they met some of their closest friends and steadiest mentors; in some cases, those mentors were fellow students. For all, participation in athletics was an important part of their college experience. Several went on to pursue athletics-related careers and achieved excellence in them.
Women’s athletics at Trinity is something to be extremely proud of. In 2022-23 alone, four women’s teams made NCAA tournament runs; women’s soccer, field hockey, women’s basketball, and women’s lacrosse; while women’s squash finished second in the country and women’s rowing finished the season ranked fourth in the nation.
A crowning moment for Trinity Athletics in 2023 was having student-athletes named as both valedictorian and salutatorian. Keelyn McNamara (women’s lacrosse) was named valedictorian, while Jake Borgida (men’s hockey) was named salutatorian.
Jay Monahan '93What it really comes down to is that Trinity women’s athletics is a strength of the school, and it always has been. I think our support of this effort will add to that strength. We’re hopeful other families and individuals who have had similar experiences are going to get behind this, and this will become a collective effort.
