HUMAN TOUCH: Princeton University women’s hockey player Kate Monihan skates around the crease in a game earlier this season. Senior defender and team co-captain Monihan was recently selected as one of 18 nominees for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given for outstanding play on the ice and for exceptional volunteerism in the community. The finalists for prestigious award, which is in its 29th season, will be revealed in February, with the ultimate recipient announced on April 12 during the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four weekend in St. Paul, Minn. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As one of the captains of the Princeton University women’s hockey team, Kate Monihan tries to uplift her teammates.

“I am big into building strong relationships off the ice, I tend to lead by connecting with everyone,” said senior defender Monihan as she looked ahead to the 2023-24 season. “It is empathy-driven leadership by being everyone’s No. 1 supporter and ensuring that they feel confident on and the off the ice and supported on and off the ice. I think that channels into the team culture. If we all feel like our buckets are filled, we will be able to give more to the team as a whole. At our games, I think I expend more energy cheering on our teammates than playing.”

Off the ice, Monihan has displayed an empathy in the Princeton community that has resulted in her recently being selected as one of  18 nominees for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given for outstanding play on the ice and for exceptional volunteerism in the community. The finalists for the prestigious award, which is its 29th season, will be revealed in February, with the ultimate recipient announced on April 12 during the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four weekend in St. Paul, Minn.

Monihan, a native of Moorestown and a former standout at the Lawrenceville School, has impressed Princeton head coach Cara Morey with her selfless approach in and out of the rink.

“Kate is a great leader on the ice, in the classroom and in the community,” said Morey of Monihan, who has seven assists so far this season as the Tigers have started 12-7-5 overall and now has 28 points in her career on four goals and 24 assists.

“Kate is always looking out for the best interest of others and puts her teammates ahead of herself. Kate has been an impactful leader since her freshman year. Not only does she lead by example on the ice, but she is also always willing to go out of her way to help her teammates and her community. She is very well respected with her peers on and off the ice, not only for her hockey abilities, but her attitude and energy she brings every day.”

Among her many activities on campus, Monihan is the vice president of Cannon Dial Elm, an eating club on campus, and was a peer and the vice president of external development of SHARE, Princeton’s on-campus resource for sexual harassment/assault advising, resources and education. In that role, Monihan was responsible for offering peer support to empower students with healthy relationship skills. She facilitated on-campus bystander intervention training and community outreach and trained SHARE peers on teaching those skills. She also helped restructure the training materials utilized by SHARE peers in interpersonal violence prevention training on campus. Through her efforts, Monihan earned the organization’s Peer to Peer Leadership Award in Creative Facilitation.

Within the athletic community at Princeton, Monihan serves on the Student-Athlete Wellness Leaders Leadership Council and as the liaison from that group to SHARE. As part of that, Monihan arranged a lunch for student-athletes with a SHARE coordinator to learn more about what SHARE does, and Monihan sat on a Varsity Student-Athletes Advisory Council panel on engaging beyond athletics.

In the summer of 2022, Monihan was one of Princeton’s student-athletes who traveled to Vietnam as part of the Coach for College program, an initiative to promote higher education through sports and encourage cultural exchange. While there, Monihan taught English in rural Vietnam, mentored life skills, and coached baseball to at-risk middle schoolers.

Also during that summer, Monihan was a legislative intern in the area of health policy in the U.S. Senate, conducting health policy analysis and bill sponsorship recommendations on topics from maternal mental health to disability integration services. Monihan served in the role after earning a place among Princeton’s Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service.

During the summer of 2020, Monihan served as an intern with the Live Like Blaine Foundation, recruiting and facilitating interviews of more than 30 candidates for a year-long internship program, overseeing the foundation’s social media accounts, and contributing to planning for the organization’s fundraising event by evaluating virtual event platforms. The organization seeks to teach leadership skills to female athletes and create community among them.

In the fall of 2021, Monihan served as a fall athlete orientation leader, welcoming first-year student-athletes by facilitating community-building activities and supporting their transition to college life.

Monihan, a student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, has also earned Princeton’s nomination for ECAC Hockey’s Mandi Schwartz Award, an honor that recognizes contributions on the ice, in the classroom and in the community.  In addition, she is a three-time ECAC All-Academic Team selection.