The Tucker
Center Gender Equity
Summer Internship Program
Our
summer internship and
fellowship program is
underway! As you'll read
below, our team is
comprised of girls and
women from across the US
who share a passion for
amplifying the mission of
the Tucker Center.
Mentoring and providing a
quality research
experience for students is
an integral part of the
Tucker Center’s mission to
accelerate systems change
and make a difference in
the lives of girls and
women in sport. During the
internship, students work
collaboratively on gender
equity-related projects
within a research team
which includes a faculty
person, graduate students
and other interns. The
summer internship program
was established in 2008;
and starting in 2013, to
honor the Tucker Center's
20th anniversary through a
generous gift of the Live
to Give Foundation, we
were able to begin
offering paid internships.
In the 14 years since its
inception, we've mentored
37 interns and seven Pam
Borton Fellows for the
Promotion of Girls and
Women in Sport Leadership,
all of whom are doing
amazing work in diverse
ways around the world
[click "Where Are They
Now" onthe Summer
Internship web page]—and
this group is no
exception! The future of
women and girls in sport
is bright.
—Dr.
Nicole M. LaVoi,
Director
(l. to
r. from top left) Dr. Nicole M.
LaVoi, Courtney Boucher, Hannah
Silva-Breen, Cecelia Kaufmann,
Jacque Davis, Sophie Liles, Liz
Kim, Anna Goorevich, Ramira
Ambrose, Maxine Simons, Mahi
Jariwala, Jonathan Sweet
Ramira
Ambrosewill
be a senior in the fall of
2021 at Wayzata High
School in Minnesota.
Ramira competes in varsity
soccer and varsity track
at Wayzata HS and club
soccer year-round. She
truly loves all aspects of
her sports and wants to
advocate gender equality
for girls and women in
sport. Ramira was mentored
by Dr. LaVoi in her junior
year of high school in
which she researched the
inclusion of Women and
Women of Color Head
Coaches in the NCAA
Division I Power Five
Soccer Conferences. With
her continuation of
working with the Tucker
Team this summer, Ramira
is looking forward to
expanding her research to
other sports and to
advocate for Women and
especially Women of Color
head coaches. As a female
athlete of color, Ramira
values the significance of
same race and gender role
models and hopes to share
this passion through
research at a
one-of-a-kind facility.
Jacque
Davisgrew
up as a deep lover of
sports, but it wasn’t until
she held her college degree
in her hands that she
realized exactly the impact
sports had had on her life.
No one in her family had
gone to college, let alone
graduated, and yet because
of sport she was able to do
so while becoming an
athletic All-American for
one of the founding
collegiate women’s wrestling
programs in the U.S. Ignited
by this, Jacque has spent
the past decade passionately
amplifying girl's and
women's sports initiatives
by serving as the Women’s
Director to a youth sports
nonprofit named Beat the
Streets, amplifying women’s
sports initiatives by
sitting on the boards of
several youth sports
organizations, and serving
as an assistant coach for
Team USA Women’s Wrestling
at the Cadet and Junior Pan
Am and World Championships.
In 2020 Jacque founded Shape
the Game, LLC, a sports
impact consultancy, in an
effort to assist SBYD
organizations to increase
their capacity, efficiency,
and impact. Starting the
summer of 2021, she will be
pursuing her master’s degree
in Child and Adolescent
Development at the
University of Minnesota and
is excited to join the
Tucker Team.
Anna
Goorevichreceived
a Bachelor of Arts in
American Studies with a
Judaic Studies minor from
Franklin & Marshall
College in May of 2021. Anna
played on F&M’s Women’s
Soccer Team and was an
active member of F&M’s
Student-Athlete Leadership
Council Executive Board.
Originally from
Gaithersburg, MD, Anna’s
passion for gender equity in
sports was first sparked by
spending many summer nights
throughout her childhood at
the Maryland SoccerPlex
watching the NWSL’s
Washington Spirit play. Anna
has pursued many research
projects on gender and
sports while at F&M,
including a winter of 2020
project in which Anna
examined England’s girls’
soccer development programs
and presented a paper
entitled “There’s
Satisfaction in Seeing a
Girl Properly Hit a
Challenge Against a Lad:
Female Soccer in England’s
Regional Talent Clubs” at
multiple conferences. Anna
recently completed an honors
thesis entitled “‘Just
Different’: Anson Dorrance,
Gender, and Athletic
Coaching” in which she
analyzed University of North
Carolina Soccer Coach Anson
Dorrance’s coaching
methodology. This Fall, Anna
will attend the University
of Stirling in Scotland to
earn a master’s degree in
Sport Management under the
Fulbright/University of
Stirling Award in Health,
Well-Being, and Sport. Anna
is particularly interested
in research regarding youth
sports, sport-access
inequality, sport
policy/governance, and
coaching. Anna is excited to
contribute to the Tucker
Team’s mission of creating
more inclusive and
empowering environments for
all athletes.
Mahi
Jariwalais
a rising sophomore at Monte
Vista High School in
Northern California. She is
currently a member of the
varsity basketball team and
intends to pursue basketball
at the collegiate level.
Mahi's desire to empower
female athletes emerged
after watching several peers
drop out of sports combined
with negativity directed
towards WNBA players on
social media. To combat this
issue and create equal
opportunities for female
athletes, Mahi created She
Can Ball, a podcast meant to
inspire female athletes to
become the best versions of
themselves both on and off
the court. Through
conversations with
inspirational coaches and
players from both the
professional and collegiate
levels, Mahi shares
cutting-edge insights with
teenage hoopers while also
discussing relevant social
issues. She is looking
forward to investigating the
high drop-out rates plaguing
teenage female athletics at
the Tucker Center. Mahi also
plans on applying her
findings to design and
launch camps for
underprivileged female
hoopers.
Cecelia
Kaufmannis
a rising sophomore at
Macalester College studying
computer science and
geography with a minor in
data science. She is a
third-year Tucker Center
Summer Intern and is excited
to be a part of a team for
another year of learning and
growth! A lifelong athlete,
she grew up playing soccer,
basketball, tennis, and
softball, and throughout
high school competed for her
school’s track and
cross-country teams. She has
also been a lifelong sports
fan, attending University of
Minnesota Women’s
Basketball, Volleyball, and
Minnesota Lynx games with
her family. This summer she
is looking forward to
continuing to develop her
research skills and working
with Dr. LaVoi and the team
to dream up and create new
ways to analyze Tucker
Center data, all with the
common goal of creating
change in the landscape for
women and girls in
athletics, and ultimately
for all in sports and
physical activity.
Liz
Kimreceived
a Bachelor of Science in
Psychological Science from
Ball State University in May
of 2021. She is captain of
the Women's Golf Team and
works as the Diversity and
Inclusion Intern for Ball
State Athletics and
represents Ball State on the
Mid-American Conference
Diversity and Inclusion
Committee. Liz grew up
playing sports but found a
passion for gender equity in
sport after being surrounded
by inspiring female role
models in college. These
role models sparked her
passion for coaching and
using sport to empower
women. Liz works as a golf
instructor at Golf Study
Collective coaching junior
girls and aspires to grow
the love of the game. She
will be pursuing her
master’s degree in Sport and
Exercise Psychology at Ball
State University starting in
the fall of 2021 and is
excited to join the Tucker
Team to contribute to the
mission of accelerating
change for girls and women
in sport.
Sophia
Lilesis
a rising senior at Scripps
College where she studies
psychology and anthropology.
She has worked as a research
assistant in the
Neuropsychology of Decision
Making Lab (Claremont, CA),
the Elder Justice Research
Lab (West Lafayette, IN),
and the Teens and Technology
Lab (West Lafayette, IN).
Sophie grew up playing
soccer, basketball, and
running cross-country and
track and now competes on
the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
cross-country and track
teams. In addition to being
an athlete herself, Sophie
is an avid sports fan and
enjoys watching any and all
athletic competitions.
Sophie has been passionate
about gender equity in
sports since middle school,
when she frequently
complained to her basketball
coach that the school
uniforms included the word
“lady” in front of the
school mascot. Sophie is
excited to further her
research skills at the
Tucker Center due to the
Center’s groundbreaking
dedication to investigating
the impact of sports on
women, a topic that has
fascinated her since
childhood.
Maxine
Simonsis
a rising junior at the
University of Minnesota Twin
Cities from Brooklyn, New
York. She is currently
majoring in sport management
with a double minor in
political science and
business law. She is a
member and treasurer of the
University of Minnesota
Women’s Club Lacrosse team
as well as a member of the
Sports Management
Association. A lifelong
multisport athlete and avid
sports fan, Maxine has
developed a keen interest
for women in sports and
gender equity. When Maxine
is not doing schoolwork or
being physically active, she
enjoys listening to music,
going to coffee shops,
cooking, and watching
movies. Upon completing her
undergraduate degree, she
plans on attending law
school and pursuing sports
law and gender advocacy. She
is very excited to take part
in impactful Tucker Center
research that empowers women
and girls and works to
create meaningful change.
Courtney
Boucher is
the Tucker Center's
three-timePam
Borton Endowment for the
Promotion of Girls and
Women in Sport Leadershipaward
winner. She is a current
second year PhD student at
the University of Minnesota,
studying Kinesiology with an
emphasis in Sport Sociology
and a minor in Sociocultural
Studies in Education. She is
a research assistant in the
Tucker Center. Courtney
received her master's from
the University of Minnesota
in the spring of 2019,
studying hiring practices of
NCAA Division-I athletic
directors, an extension of
theWomen
in College Coaching Report
Card. Before her
graduate studies, Courtney
was the Assistant Hockey
Coach at her alma mater,
Gustavus Adolphus College.
Courtney graduated from
Gustavus with B.A. in
Chemistry and a minor in
Political Science. At
Gustavus, Courtney was an
All-American defender for
the women’s hockey team. The
Hastings, Minnesota native
currently is the video
coordinator for the Gopher
Women’s Hockey Team.
Hannah
Silva-Breen is
a Project Director at the
Tucker Center. She is
currently pursuing a Master
of Science degree in
kinesiology with an emphasis
in sport and exercise
psychology. Hannah is also a
research assistant in the
Tucker Center for Research
on Girls and Women in Sport
where she combines her
passion for gender equity,
sport, and research. In
2018, Hannah graduated from
Gustavus Adolphus College
with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in both psychology
and exercise physiology.
After graduating, she began
working at the Emily Program
in St. Paul, Minnesota where
she developed an interest in
issues surrounding body
image and eating disorders
among girls and women,
specifically athletes. Her
current research interest is
how coaches influence
athlete body image and
relationships with food.
Hannah hopes to use her
experience in the eating
disorder field to guide her
towards research, education,
and intervention aimed at
improving body image and
decreasing eating disorder
prevalence among athletes.
For the past nine years,
Hannah has also been a girls
basketball coach for the
Minnesota Suns AAU program
where she puts her education
and experience to work by
improving her athletes’
experience in sport and
teaching life skills. Most
recently, she accepted the
position of Health and
Wellness Coach for the
Minnesota Suns where she
teaches psychological skills
to athletes and coaches
while also being a referral
resource for anyone seeking
mental health help. Hannah
aspires to collaborate with
the leaders in sport, sport
psychology, and gender
equity across the globe to
make a lasting impact on the
lives of all girls and women
in sport.
Our
summer internship and
fellowship program is
underway! As you'll read
below, our team is
comprised of girls and
women from across the US
who share a passion for
amplifying the mission of
the Tucker Center.
Mentoring and providing a
quality research
experience for students is
an integral part of the
Tucker Center’s mission to
accelerate systems change
and make a difference in
the lives of girls and
women in sport. During the
internship, students work
collaboratively on gender
equity-related projects
within a research team
which includes a faculty
person, graduate students
and other interns. The
summer internship program
was established in 2008;
and starting in 2013, to
honor the Tucker Center's
20th anniversary through a
generous gift of the Live
to Give Foundation, we
were able to begin
offering paid internships.
In the 14 years since its
inception, we've mentored
37 interns and seven Pam
Borton Fellows for the
Promotion of Girls and
Women in Sport Leadership,
all of whom are doing
amazing work in diverse
ways around the world
[click "Where Are They
Now" on
Ramira
Ambrose
Jacque
Davis
Anna
Goorevich
Mahi
Jariwala
Cecelia
Kaufmann
Liz
Kim
Sophia
Liles
Maxine
Simons
Courtney
Boucher is
the Tucker Center's
three-time
Hannah
Silva-Breen is
a Project Director at the
Tucker Center. She is
currently pursuing a Master
of Science degree in
kinesiology with an emphasis
in sport and exercise
psychology. Hannah is also a
research assistant in the
Tucker Center for Research
on Girls and Women in Sport
where she combines her
passion for gender equity,
sport, and research. In
2018, Hannah graduated from
Gustavus Adolphus College
with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in both psychology
and exercise physiology.
After graduating, she began
working at the Emily Program
in St. Paul, Minnesota where
she developed an interest in
issues surrounding body
image and eating disorders
among girls and women,
specifically athletes. Her
current research interest is
how coaches influence
athlete body image and
relationships with food.
Hannah hopes to use her
experience in the eating
disorder field to guide her
towards research, education,
and intervention aimed at
improving body image and
decreasing eating disorder
prevalence among athletes.
For the past nine years,
Hannah has also been a girls
basketball coach for the
Minnesota Suns AAU program
where she puts her education
and experience to work by
improving her athletes’
experience in sport and
teaching life skills. Most
recently, she accepted the
position of Health and
Wellness Coach for the
Minnesota Suns where she
teaches psychological skills
to athletes and coaches
while also being a referral
resource for anyone seeking
mental health help. Hannah
aspires to collaborate with
the leaders in sport, sport
psychology, and gender
equity across the globe to
make a lasting impact on the
lives of all girls and women
in sport.