Student Athletes of the Year

In Partnership with Eves Fund for Native American Health Initiatives and other generous donors we are proud to announce our first annual Male and Female Student Athletes of the year.

This Award is meant to highlight the success of Native Americans with physical disabilities success both in sport and in the classroom. Para sports have been proven to improve outcomes in health, education and employment and the athletes are a great example of its benefits.

The awards recognize the students’ hard work and perseverance in overcoming obstacles to achieve their potential, both as athletes and students, redefining the possibilities for individuals with physical disabilities. They were selected for their success in the classroom and in the competitive arena as well as their future potential. These young people are inspiring examples for others to follow and they will be considered ambassadors for the Missions of Tribal Adaptive Organization and Eve’s Fund in Indian Country and wherever their futures take them. The young people selected for the inaugural 2021 awards will each receive a $1,500.00 scholarship and a custom design award plaque, made possible by financial support from Eve’s Fund.

The inaugural Tribal Adaptive female student-athlete honoree is Alicia Guerrero, a member of the Tolowa
Dee-ni’ and the Yakama nations. She is a 2021 graduate of Wapata High School in Wapata, Washington State, where she was a state track and field champion and a top student. Now a college freshman, Alicia attends the University of Illinois on a wheelchair basketballscholarship. At the age of two, Alicia lost her left leg in a lawn mowing accident. Growing up, she was inspired by the prosthetists who made her artificial legs and she decided she wanted to enter the field, so chose to major in Biology at the University of Illinois.
Caiden Baxter, a member of the Pokagan band of Potowatomi tribe, is the inaugural male Tribal Adaptive Student-Athlete Scholarship awardee. A native of Niles, Michigan, Caiden suffered a spinal cord injury at age 15, in an ATV crash, leaving him with partial paralysis from the waist down. An honors student before and after his injury, he graduated from Niles High School and the Berrien RESA Mathematics & Science Center (Berrien Springs, MI), which serves the area’s highest potential high school students. With 68 college credit hours already earned, Caiden was accepted to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor with a HAIL Scholarship (High Achieving Involved Leader). Now a junior at Michigan, Caiden majors in Computer Science and is a member of the school’s wheelchair tennisteam.