Best of U. ... Vermont's Kristen Millar - AmericaEast.com
America East
believes that the student-athletes represent the best and brightest of
each of the conference's nine member universities . In order to
recognize the contributions these student-athletes make to their
classrooms, their campuses and their communities, America East will
highlight a different student-athlete each month over the course of the
2008-09 school year in a "Best of U." feature.
May's installment of "Best of U." focuses on University of Vermont's
women's lacrosse standout Kristen Millar. Millar is leaving Vermont as
the most decorated Catamount the program has ever seen and was recently
named an institutional finalist for the America East Woman of the Year.
The story was written by Lisa Champagne, UVM Director of Athletic
Communications.
Senior Kristen Millar will graduate from the University of Vermont on May 17 with a degree in elementary education and as the most decorated player in UVM women's lacrosse history.
Millar spent the fall semester as a student teacher at Edmunds Elementary School in Burlington. She juggled her teaching duties, classes and training sessions with the lacrosse team for the first 12 weeks of school.
Her two worlds of teaching and lacrosse collided once more on the day of the biggest game in UVM's season. On April 25, the Catamounts were facing a must-win game against Stony Brook in order to advance to the America East Women's Lacrosse Championship. Millar spent the morning taking the Praxis II Exam, which is an elementary education content knowledge test teachers need to pass to get a Vermont teaching license, 30 minutes away in Waitsfield, Vt.
"I finished the test in 40 minutes, but I was not able to leave the room until everyone was finished," said Millar. "I got to the locker room just as the team was finishing its pregame speech."
How did Millar respond? She scored a hat trick, finished with five points and collected a career-high 12 draw controls, as Vermont defeated the Seawolves 19-1,1 to earn its second straight berth to the conference tournament.
Millar was head coach Jen Johnson's first recruit when Johnson took over the Vermont program in 2005. Coincidently since Millar's arrival at UVM the Catamount program has taken an upswing in a positive direction and that is what Millar is all about, finding the positive in everything and everyone around her and accentuating it.
Millar, native of Whitby, Ontario, first arrived in Burlington, Vt. as a freshman in 2006. She chose Vermont because, "I wanted to be close to home. I knew it was important for my family to be able to come to games. I also wanted to play for JJ (head coach Jen Johnson)," she says. "And I wanted to play at a high level. I had a goal of playing in college and lacrosse in the States is the level I wanted to play at."
When she arrived on campus the expectations were for her to work hard. "I knew the team was rebuilding and JJ wanted it to be a more competitive program. She told me to work towards being an impact player and getting a starting role. I worked hard and tried to do as much as I could in all aspects," said Millar.
Certainly those words are an understatement as she reflects on her four years at Vermont. "It's been pretty good," Millar says with a smile and a laugh. "I'm definitely pleased with my accomplishments and more importantly the team has grown so much in four years. We've shown that we belong among the top teams in America East and our tournament appearance in 2008 wasn't just a fluke."
It's hard to summarize Millar's accomplishments and impact on the program. She will leave UVM as the program's all-time leader in goals, assists, points, draw controls, caused turnovers and ground balls. She is the program's only three-time IWLCA Regional All-American. She is a three-time America East All-Conference First Team selection and more importantly she has raised UVM from a team being left out of the tournament, to a favorite to make the tournament.
Millar and her fellow seniors ? Sarah DeStefano, Jessa Merrill and Annie Strout - have combined to win 28 games, the second most in school history by a four-year class and the most since the senior class of 1994. They led Vermont to back-to-back America East Tournament appearances (2008, 2009). The foursome also led UVM to the most league wins in the team's history (5), the best finish in the conference standings in the program's history in 2008 (2nd), to the team's first winning season since 1994 and tied the school record for most wins in a season (9) this year.
Now that her lacrosse career is over at Vermont, Millar will focus on her teaching career and some wedding planning; She got engaged on January 17, just to add some more excitement to her life.
As an elementary education major at Vermont, Millar carries a 3.64 GPA and was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I Team and America East Women's Lacrosse All-Academic Team.
"I love kids and I was originally in the physical education program here, but then I decided I wanted to keep athletics as a hobby, not my job. So I switched to elementary education," said Millar.
Millar, who went to a French immersion school during her scholastic career and earned a bilingual certificate from the Canadian Government, also has concentrations in French and nutrition. "I chose French to keep my skills up because if I didn't continue to speak the language I would have lost a lot and it gives me an opportunity to be a French teacher too. The nutrition piece is so hopefully I can use it in the education field to work to mold curriculums and/or policies in schools to help teach kids to lead a healthy lifestyle."
During the fall semester, Millar was a student teacher at Edmunds Elementary School in Burlington. She managed to find the time to work the full school day and then come to practice and train with the team, making for long days and nights.
"It was a great experience, probably my most memorable one as a student at UVM. The kids were great. At the end of my last week the class had a celebration and made me a book. On each page it said 'Dear Ms. Millar' and then each student wrote about something I did for him or her, something they appreciated or why they will miss me. It was a highlight of my time with them. It made all the work worth it, all the time running from school to class to training with the team, it was a special present," said Millar.
"I chose teaching because I am a people person and I like to teach them and find the strengths in everyone. I want to encourage kids to do well and give them the confidence that they can succeed."
Millar, a team captain this season and four-time team MVP, is without a doubt the leader of the program, the spokesperson, and the player her peers look up to. She has taken some of what she has learned in the classroom and applied it to her teammates.
"In my classes about education and teaching, it has been stressed to highlight people's strengths and that's what I try to do on the field and with the team," says Millar. "Whether its creating a play or just speaking to my teammates, I look for the positives in people, talk to them about the things they are good at and try to showcase their talents. The message I like to send is that if everyone can do their part everything will fall into place."
From the looks of things, everything is falling into place for the Catamounts thanks to the foundation laid by Millar's positive leadership and play.