GRAND LAKE, CO -- Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse senior Eden Epner has been named the IWLCA Community Awareness Award recipient for Division I. The 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.

Epner has given greatly of her time in her four years with the Blue Jays and her senior year is no different. She has volunteered at the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI) at Johns Hopkins Hospital since last spring. At the institute, she works with babies, toddlers, and adolescents with pediatric developmental disabilities and disorders of the brain, spinal cord, and musculoskeletal system. Epner helps her patients minimize the stressors of hospital life and reach therapeutic goals through structured play, psychosocial support, and recreational activities. This past fall, she spearheaded the planning of JHU's inaugural One Love Field Day FUNdraiser. The event raised almost $6,000 for the One Love Foundation, which raises awareness regarding relationship violence.

Epner has been a Positive Coach Alliance (PCA) Ambassador since 2013 and has served on their National Student-Athlete Advisory Board and took on a leadership role in their social media efforts. She is also the Women's Pre-Health Leadership Society (WPHLS) Community Engagement Chair and in that role, organized service activities and integrated a new initiative, ACEing Autism tennis sessions. In her role as a volunteer medical scribe for HOPE Community Clinic, Epner served Houston's refugee and immigrant community. Additionally, she served as the President of JHU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) where she led their community engagement efforts.

Last spring, Epner was named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar as well as to the Big Ten All-Academic Team and the IWLCA Zag Sports Academic Honor Roll. She is a six-time Dean's List Honoree and has been inducted to the Chi Alpha Sigma, Alpha Epsilon Delta, and Psi Chi honor societies. Epner will graduate on Thursday with a degree in Psychological and Brain Sciences and will take a gap year before beginning medical school in the fall of 2019.