2022 Jostens Trophy Winner
"In my 26 years as the head coach at Hope College, Kenedy Schoonveld is the best player I've ever coached," explained Hope head coach Brian Morehouse. "The real beauty to Kenedy lies in her work off the court, serving the at-risk population through her work with local social work organizations, her work with students with special needs, as well as serving for a summer in Africa at an orphanage."
Schoonveld, a senior from Zeeland, Mich., has earned enough awards through five seasons at Hope to fill a large room. Recently named both the WBCA and D3hoops.com Division III Player of the Year, Schoonveld is a six-time All-American with three laurels each from the WBCA and D3hoops.com. Twice she earned D3hoops.com Co-Great Lakes Regional Player of the Year recognition, and received the Region 7 Player of the Year honor outright this season. She also earned D3hoops.com Co-Great Lakes Rookie of the Year distinction in 2017-18. She is a five-time First Team choice by the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) with a trio of league MVP honors. She also earned MIAA Rookie of the Year recognition in 2018.
This season, Schoonveld led Hope to its third Division III championship in the program's fourth appearance in the final game. She averaged 11.1 points while shooting 49.1-percent from the field, 41.8-percent from three-point range, and 83.0-percent from the foul line. She pulled down 4.0 rebounds per game and dished out 70 assists (2.1/g) with 53 steals and 17 blocked shots. She boasted an impressive 3.30 assist-to-turnover ratio. Schoonveld will graduate as the Flying Dutch's all-time second leading scorer with 1,479 points with 263 assists and 198 steals. She shot .488 (559-of-1146) from the field, .400 (167-of-417) from beyond the arc, and .808 (194-of-240) from the foul line. Schoonveld never missed a game during her career. Her 138 games played were all as a starter and serve as the team record.
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In the classroom, Schoonveld boasts a 3.8 GPA as a social work major. She has been accepted into Baylor University's graduate school for social work, an opportunity she was able to delay for a year so she could play her fifth season of basketball in 2021-22. She will soon become a five-time member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, and has previously been honored by the conference with the Sheila Wallace Kovalchik Award as the conference's top female student-athlete. She earned Academic All-America distinction from CoSIDA in 2021.
Schoonveld's community service exploits have been numerous, focusing on work with children of special needs. She worked with local area Special Olympics chapters for three years prior to the pandemic. She spent three years at a Miracle League baseball and softball facility designed for those with special needs. The former vice-president for the Phi Alpha social work honor society served one year in a dementia unit at Resthaven Good Shepherd's Home.
Schoonveld traveled abroad to further her reach helping those in need. She spent one summer in Africa in Lesotho interning with Beautiful Gate Lesotho Childcare Centre. Beautiful Gate was founded in 2001 in response to the overwhelming rates of orphaned, abandoned, HIV-infected, and other vulnerable children in Lesotho. Beautiful Gate focuses on providing residential care for infants and children predominantly between the ages of birth and five years old.
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