The Creating Pathways and Access for Student Success™ Foundation (CPASS) proudly celebrates Tracie Screven, Associate Director of CPASS, on being named the 2026 Play Maker Awardee by Sneakers to Scrubs as part of its Soles of Summer 2026 recognition event.
The award will be presented at the Soles of Summer 2026 Event on Saturday, May 30, 2026 in Chicago. The event will honor leaders whose work is advancing health equity, strengthening communities, and helping shape the future of healthcare.
In announcing this year’s honorees, Sneakers to Scrubs recognized Tracie with the Play Maker Award for her work “strengthening health equity and expanding pathways into Chicago’s healthcare workforce.” This recognition affirms what the CPASS community knows well: Tracie is a mission-driven leader whose impact is felt through strategy, execution, partnership, and service.
For CPASS, this recognition is especially meaningful because Tracie’s leadership reflects the very heart of the Foundation’s mission: creating access, building pathways, and ensuring that students from historically under-resourced communities have the preparation, exposure, and support needed to pursue careers in STEMM and healthcare.
Before joining CPASS, Tracie held leadership roles at SMASH, including Site Director and Midwest Regional Program Director, where she launched SMASH Illinois and developed STEMM programming for Black and Brown high school students preparing for college and STEMM careers. That work became a powerful predecessor to CPASS’s STEMM Scholars Academy, a program Tracie was significantly involved in launching and is now helping to scale as one of CPASS’s signature pathway initiatives.
Tracie’s leadership has continued to expand CPASS’s programmatic footprint. Most recently, she launched the STEMM 3D Academy pilot program, advancing CPASS’s use of immersive learning to expose students to healthcare, anatomy, physiology, and emerging STEMM technologies. Through this work, Tracie is helping CPASS create new models for student engagement, career exploration, and health equity workforce development.
“Tracie Screven represents the best of what it means to be a play maker,” said Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, Chair of the CPASS Board of Directors. “She leads with purpose, discipline, and heart. Her work strengthens CPASS, but more importantly, it strengthens the future for young people who deserve every opportunity to see themselves in medicine, science, technology, and leadership. We are enormously proud of Tracie and grateful that Sneakers to Scrubs has recognized what we at CPASS see every day.”
The Play Maker Award is a fitting tribute to Tracie’s ability to move vision into action. At CPASS, she helps transform ideas into programs, partnerships into outcomes, and student potential into measurable progress. Her leadership reflects a rare combination of strategy, operational excellence, compassion, and an unwavering belief in the promise of young people.
Sneakers to Scrubs is dedicated to reducing health disparities by supporting student-athletes throughout their educational journey, encouraging them to explore healthcare careers, and helping prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals who reflect the communities they serve. Its mission closely aligns with CPASS’s commitment to expanding access to STEMM and healthcare careers for students historically underrepresented in these fields.
The CPASS Board of Directors, staff, students, families, and partners join Sneakers to Scrubs in celebrating Tracie Screven and the full 2026 class of honorees. Her recognition as the 2026 Play Maker Awardee is not simply an individual achievement; it is a powerful affirmation of the work being done every day to advance equity, opportunity, and excellence.
Congratulations, Tracie. CPASS is proud to celebrate your leadership, your impact, and your well-deserved recognition.