INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- St. Catherine University former student-athlete, Bryana Leverentz was awarded the prestigious National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Postgraduate Scholarship following a outstanding athletic and academic tenure for the Wildcats volleyball and track and field programs. 

To qualify for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, student-athletes must excel academically and athletically, be in their final year of eligibility, and plan to pursue graduate study. Student-athletes must also maintain at least a 3.2 grade-point average and be nominated by their institution's faculty athletics representative.
 
The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually. The one-time, non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 are awarded three times a year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring).  Each sports season there are 21 scholarships available for men and 21 scholarships available for women for use in an accredited graduate program.
 
All former student-athletes who earned an undergraduate degree from an NCAA member school are eligible to be nominated by that school for an NCAA graduate degree scholarship, regardless of when they received their undergraduate degree.

Leverentz intends to use the scholarship to complete her degree as part of the the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at St. Catherine. Leverentz's long term plans are to become a traveling occupational therapy after graduation in order to gain experience in the field with the opportunity to travel. Her long term goal is to own a private practice with a space that encourages an Interprofessional and holistic approach by collaborating with different healthcare professionals supporting mental and physical health. This fall, Leverentz will be in Colorado Springs, Colorado at an outpatient clinic for three months completing her level II fieldwork. Following her return to Minnesota, she will be placed at Melrose, a Park Nicollet Clinic in St. Louis Park,  which works with mental health and eating disorder patients. She will conclude her Doctoral capstone project which is focused on Nature-based therapy in pediatrics focused on challenging behaviors collaborating with Rainbow Tree therapies in Hudson, Wisconsin for the next two summers to complete her requirements for the program. 

Outside of the classroom, Leverentz was a three-time MIAC All-Conference selection claiming the title in the javelin throw in the Spring of 2023. She was awarded All-Region honors as a junior and in her fifth-year and received the departments annual Fleur-de-lis Award in 2022. Leverentz was a nine-time Dean's List awardee and seven-time MIAC Academic All-Conference. She earned the St. Catherine University Student Senate Leadership Award and Scholarship in 2022 and was awarded the Thomas More Award. Leverentz was part of the St. Catherine Antonian Honors Program from 2018-2021 while also holding multiple leadership positions within the university clubs and organizations. Most recently in 2023, she was recognized with the Choosing Wisely Champion Recognition Award. She belongs to the American Occupational Therapy Association, was inducted into the Psi Chi Honors Psychology Sociey as well as the National Student Athlete Honor Society, Chi Alpha Sigma, and was an Anatomy and Physiology/Neuroscience Mentor for two years. 

Leverentz is the third student-athlete from St. Catherine to earn the prestigious honor following Sydney Grohman in 2021 and Kylie Macziewski in 2018 while being one of 129 in the MIAC since 1964.