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Caitlin Higdon of Elizabethtown Receives One of Lindsey Wilson College's Top Student Leadership Awards

Senior was a role model to underclassmen, started a DanceBlue chapter on campus.

by Duane Bonifer

COLUMBIA, Ky. (05/13/2025) — To say that Lindsey Wilson College senior Caitlin Higdon finished her undergraduate career in style would be an understatement.

In addition to graduating from the college's R.V. Bennett Honors Program with a double major in biology and psychophysiology and a double minor in chemistry and psychology, Higdon received one of the college's top student leadership awards this spring.

Known as the L3 Award -- which stands for live, learn and lead -- the award recognizes Lindsey Wilson students and employees who exemplify the spirit to live, learn and lead through in their daily work. The award is presented annually to three members of the Lindsey Wilson student body.

Higdon said "it meant everything" to receive one of the top L3 awards.

"I was so excited," said Higdon, the daughter of Aaron and Colleen Higdon of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. "I was over the moon just to be nominated. When I learned that I had received one of the top awards I was on the phone immediately with my mother to tell her. I never expect to get recognized for my work, but it's nice when it happens."

One of the reasons Higdon received the top leadership award was because she helped start a DanceBlue chapter at Lindsey Wilson. Affiliated with the student-run DanceBlue held at the University of Kentucky, the 24-hour event raises money and awareness to fight pediatric cancer and support families affected by the disease.

"I was super passionate about the cause and excited to bring it to Lindsey Wilson," said Higdon, a 2021 graduate of Central Hardin High School.

During her four years at Lindsey Wilson, Highdon was president of the R.V. Bennett Honors Society, president of her junior class and vice president of her senior class, and she worked with other students as a peer mentor. She was also a member of the Lindsey Wilson swim team, worked as a student ambassador and spent a semester studying in Northern Ireland.

"Being a peer mentor was one of the most rewarding experiences I had at Lindsey Wilson," said Higdon. "I had a really hard time adjusting to college during my freshman year. So being in a position where I could help freshmen and be a person they could lean on was such a good feeling."

The Lindsey Wilson R.V. Honors Program was also a catalyst for Higdon's campus involvement and leadership.

"The honors program has never been just a class for me," said Higdon. "That's where I started to get involved and everything else just snowballed from there."

After Lindsey Wilson, Higdon will enroll at Vanderbilt University, where she will pursue a master of science in nursing and then a doctor of nursing practice.

"I've wanted to be a doctor since I was 10 because I've always liked to help people," she said. "I hope that when I go to Vanderbilt that I'm the same kind of person who helps people, and I hope that carries over into my job as well."

Lindsey Wilson College is a vibrant liberal arts college in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson -- which will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1 -- has an enrollment of more than 4,000 students, and the college offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The college's 28 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.

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Lindsey Wilson College President William T. Luckey Jr. presents one of the college’s three L3 Awards to Caitlin Higdon ’25, a biology and psychophysiology double major from Elizabethtown, Kentucky. In addition to a plaque, L3 recipients also receive a book on leadership, selected by Luckey. The L3 Award recognizes Lindsey Wilson students and employees who exemplify the spirit to live, learn and lead through in their daily work.

Lindsey Wilson College student Caitlin Higdon ’25, a biology and psychophysiology double major from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, speaks at the college’s L3 Student Leadership Banquet after receiving on the top three L3 Awards, which recognize Lindsey Wilson students and employees who exemplify the spirit to live, learn and lead through in their daily work.

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