The Boken Award - Saint Louis University Athletics

The SLU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has established a special award in Megan’s honor, the Boken Award. The winner is nominated by and voted upon by members of the SLU community, and announced at the SLUSPYS awards banquet.

"The Boken Award goes to the student who is the ultimate teammate and member of the athletics community. The winner of the Boken Award is a person who is always positive and supportive, is friendly to student-athletes from all teams and brings a smile to other people more often than not. The Boken award is in memory of Megan Boken, who we lost in August 2012, but whose spirit lives on in our department."

This year, the Boken Award was presented by Megan's teammate Grace Bonoma, who gave a beautiful speech about Megan.

The winner of the Boken Award was Carly Marcum, who was Megan's teammate at SLU for two years.

 

Speech by Grace Bonoma in honor of Megan Boken at the 2013 SLUSPYS

On August 18th, 2012 SLU Volleyball gathered in celebration among friends and family for the first annual alumni volleyball match. This was the beginning of what is expected to be a long-standing tradition with in our program.

As the game approached we were still waiting on one key player to arrive for the alumni team. In true Megan Boken fashion we expected her to show up sometime during the middle of warmups sporting her best accessory. Her laugh. There are few things in this world as beautiful as the sound of Megan Boken's laugh. And she sure laughed a lot.

Rumors began to circulate and quickly turned to worry as the match concluded with no sign of Boken's arrival. We waited in anticipation for any information regarding her whereabouts, and in turn, received the worst news we could ever possibly imagine. Megan Boken had passed away after being gunned down earlier that afternoon in the Central West End. Victim to a senseless act of violence. That day and many to follow were filled with a deep sense of loss and sadness that can only be felt in the absence of such an incredible individual.

It's difficult to speak about Boken on a personal level because she sounds too good to be really true. Whenever you hear someone talk about her they always describe what made her so special. Beautiful, athletic, talented, funny but what does that actually mean?

What's unique about Megan Boken is that she was able to make a lasting impression on everyone she met, no matter how long or how short the interaction. Looking at her Facebook wall after she passed away there were countless posts from people who had met her only once, twice, or a handful of times, each with a different story to share.

To me, she was an incredible friend and an even better role model. Someone who I will ALWAYS look up to. Someone who as a senior came to hang out with us Freshman in the dorms. To others she was that fist pumping volleyball player who could carry the team on her back. #20, the player who hated losing more than anything in the world. She was the girl on campus who was friends with everyone and who never had anything bad to say. She was the person who fed pizza to strangers on the Lacleades dance floor and the girl who danced to the Bay-watch theme song in our locker room before matches.

Triathlon competitor, future reality TV star, loving daughter, and friend and so much more. I could go on for hours.

Megan Boken was the person who welcomed me to SLU and who made me realize that I was joining more than a volleyball team here, I was part of a family.

In her 23 years Boken taught us that life is something to be cherished, something to be celebrated. Her life is a symbol of what it truly means to live. She shined like an angel here on earth, I can only imagine how much brighter she makes heaven.

Today we honor her through the presentation of the Boken award. The Boken award is delegated to the student-athlete who is the ultimate teammate and member of the athletics community. A person who is always positive and supportive, is friendly to student-athletes from all teams and brings a smile to other people more often than not. The Boken award is in memory of Megan Boken, who we lost in August 2012, but whose spirit lives on in our department.