MSW student and UA gymnast Kiana Winston is one of two student athletes recently named a 2019 A-Club Athlete of the Year at UA. Winston and UA football player Tua Tagovailoa were both recognized with the Crimson Choice Awards in April.
The Alabama Athletics Department’s annual Crimson Choice Awards are presented by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). The 2019 awards banquet was held April 16 at the Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa.
Kiana Winston received UA athletics’ 2018 Paul W. Bryant Student-Athlete Award (Credit: The University of Alabama)
Winston was named a 2019 A-Club Athlete of the Year for the 2018 competitive year after receiving the vote of her fellow student athletes, head coaches, and the Executive Athletic Administration. In 2018, she won athletics’ Paul W. Bryant Student-Athlete Award, which is given annually to the top male and female student-athlete.
“Being a student athlete at the University of Alabama gave me a family away from home and lifelong support, and for that I am truly grateful. It was quite an honor to even be a finalist,” Winston said.
As a MSW student, Winston has severed as a student health and wellness center intern with SMART™ (School Health Model for Academics Reaching ALL Transforming Lives), a school health solution dedicated to improving academic achievement in order to break the cycle of poverty, creating a new, antecedent component on the health care continuum spectrum. In August 2018, Ginn Group Consulting (GGC) led the implementation of new SMART Clinics with support from The University of Alabama School of Education and School of Social Work and a significant financial commitment from CVS Health and Pickens County Primary Care (Dr. Julia Boothe) as Medical Provider Partner.
The SMART Student Health and Wellness Model is revolutionizing the education sector’s advocacy in integrating physical, behavioral, social and emotional interventions as a normative partner to health care in public schools, and Winston’s role and dedication has played an important part in this start-up year of operations.
Melanie Ginn, President & CEO of Ginn Group Consulting and Architect of the SMART Model and UA MSW student Kiana Winston, Pickens County SMART Student Health and Wellness Intern, at the Annual SMART Symposium and Congressional Briefing in Washington, D.C. held early December, 2018.
The work ethic Winston has shown working within the SMART Model and balancing life as a student and athlete proves her remarkable ability to balance multiple demands and exhibit exemplary character and leadership in all areas of her life and work.
“The University of Alabama instilled in me lifelong characteristics, such as integrity, class, and respect,” Winston said. “Serving others and making them the star of the show is one of the reasons I decided to become a social worker and do an internship with the SMART Student Health and Wellness Center in Pickens County, Alabama. The passion I have stems from knowing the job never ends, but working and serving others until the situation is better than the way you found it.”
Winston holds her bachelor’s degree in psychology and human development family studies from The University of Alabama, where she is also pursuing her Master of Social Work.
About SMART™
SMART (School Health Model for Academics Reaching ALL Transforming Lives) is a school health solution dedicated to improving academic achievement in order to break the cycle of poverty, creating a new, antecedent component on the health care continuum spectrum. The SMART Student Health and
Wellness Model is revolutionizing the education sector’s advocacy in integrating physical, behavioral, social and emotional interventions as a normative partner to health care in public schools, and Winston’s role and dedication has played an important part in this start-up year of operations. SMART integrates
behavioral and physical health with an emphasis on the “Whole Child-Whole School” approach; therefore, the University of Alabama’s Social Work and Marriage and Family Interns play a crucial part, working in collaboration with the SMART Clinical Teams, led by a Family Nurse Practitioner, and the Principals’ teams to identify risks to classroom success and then design and deliver interventions that will mitigate, if not eliminate those barriers. The SMART Model was developed in Chicago in 2013 with Melanie Ginn, President and CEO of GGC, as the chief architect and strategist, in collaboration with funding and thought leader partner CVS Health. Additional new partners including Aramark, The University of Alabama, the Cleveland Foundation, and the George Gund Foundation, have stepped forward to bring SMART to new sites in their regions.
This report was compiled from a Gin Group Consulting press release.