Bridget Spooner, a graduate of Hugh. C. Williams High School in Canton, was recently named to the “40 Under 40 Class” at Springfield College, her alma mater.

The “40 Under 40 Class” recognizes alumni who “personify the Springfield College mission and is pursuing their passions to lead to positive change,” according to a press release from Spooner.

Spooner was nominated for the award by senior women’s soccer student-athlete Maddison Burkhardt in 2016.

Spooner decided on a career change early inher college education after working with Michael Pitts, head athletic trainer at Clarkson University.

"He is the reason I wanted to become an athletic trainer," she said

"Going to work for Mike every day made me realize how much I enjoyed helping the physically active population return to activity. To this day, it still excites me to go to work."

She transferred to Springfield College to become an athletic trainer shortly thereafter.

Spooner took a position at Elizabethtown College, aDivision III institution in south central Pennsylvania, after earning her post-professional master’s degree in athletic training at A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona.

In December, she completed her terminal degree in athletic training.

During her time at Elizabethtown College, she has sat on the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Young Professionals' Committee as the district two representative, was one of three athletic trainers in the United States who represented collegiate athletic trainers on the 2015 Gatorade Athletic Training Task Force, and was chosen to sit as a panelist on the Board of Certification Practice Analysis in 2014, according to her press release.

She currently is sitting on a committee within the Board of Certification.

At Elizabethtown College, she serves as the athletics department representative on the Campus Wellness Network (CWN) Committee and was formerly on the Campus Safety Committee.

She was recently notified that her article “Evidence Does Not Support the Use of Electrical Stimulation to Decrease Pain and Edema Following a Lateral Ankle Sprain: A Critically Appraised Paper” will be published in the International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training.

Spooner is currently an adjunct professor at Elizabethtown College for the sports medicine class. She was a teaching assistant throughout her undergraduate and graduate education.

For more information on Spooner, please see her spotlight page at: http://springfield.edu/alumni-relations/40-under-40/bridget-spooner.