On February 11, 2026 at the 35th annual Alumnae Awards, Sacred Heart Academy honored nine women and men for their significant and lasting contributions to Dear Sacred Heart. What a night! Bellarmine University's Frazier Hall was packed with family, friends, classmates, co-workers, mentors, the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, and Sacred Heart Schools trustees celebrating SHA spirit and Valkyrie Pride. Congratulations to all! Thank you for sharing your gifts and lasting legacy with Sacred Heart!
Alumna of the Year: Amy Montgomery Bergeron '94
Heart Award: Kevin Collins, Sylvie Umuhoza '08
Ursuline Teaching Legacy Award: Sally Baker Rothenburger '57
Valkyrie Hall of Fame: Marc Breit (Pink & White Game flag football coach), Maddie Hamilton '15 (Golf), Autumn Miller '10 (Basketball), Leah Stevens '15 (Swimming)
Ursuline Teaching Legacy Award: Sally Baker Rothenburger '57
Honorary Diploma: Tim Rutledge
To see the entire album of photos, pleaseview: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCKHZS
Alumna of the Year: Amy Montgomery Bergeron '94
Since her days playing field hockey, tennis, and basketball at SHA (did you know as a senior she was named “Most Athletic”?), Amy has been the ultimate Valkyrie, always leading with heart, serving with compassion, and connecting others with her gift of friendship and impressive leadership skills.
Soon after graduating from Centre College, Amy bought Whitehouse Residential and Commercial Painting. For more than twenty years, she has grown the business and has become a respected female leader in the male-dominated construction industry. One of her most treasured work experiences is the 2022-23 renovation of the Ursuline Chapel of the Immaculate Conception on Ursuline Campus. Amy was named to the Business First “Forty Under 40” list in 2014 and was a finalist for the Women Business Owner of the Year Award from NAWBO in 2006.
As an involved alumna, parent, board member, class rep, coach, and team mom, Amy is a well-known face around SHA. She has served on committees and boards including the SHA Visionary and Planning Committee; as Vice President and President of the SHA Alumnae Board; as co-chair of the Forever Ursuline Capital Campaign to raise $18 million in 2017-2020; and as Co-President of the SHA Parent Association. She is currently the Chair of Sacred Heart's $30 million Sacred Heart Forever capital campaign, which will transform SHA and the entire campus for the future.
Amy has also found time to coach basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, cross country, and Quick Recall at her parish, Holy Trinity. Her community work includes serving as a past board chair of St. John’s Center. Amy and her husband Andre have two daughters, Nally (SHA ’25) and Madison (Future Valkyrie, Class of 2031).
With the Ursuline Core Values as a guide, Amy joyfully serves SHA and the community of Louisville. She's a valued mentor and friend, a passionate supporter of SHA, and an influential businesswoman who deeply cares about the legacy and future of the sisterhood of Valkyries at Sacred Heart.
Heart Awards: Sylvie Umuhoza '08 and Kevin Collins
Sylvie Umuhoza ’08 emigrated with her grandmother and younger sister to the United States at the age of twelve after losing her parents in the Rwandan genocide. Despite an unimaginably difficult childhood, and speaking little English, she eventually excelled at SHA as a King Scholar. She participated in the National Honor Society, French Honor Society, Student Advisory Board, Peer Leader Program, Quest Leadership Program, and the King Scholars Program, where she even taught other girls in the King Foundation’s five-week summer enrichment program. She continued to serve as a mentor for King Scholar students at SHA after she left for college at St. Louis University and gives back to SHA whenever she can through her involvement with students and fellow alumnae. Sylvie also serves on the SHS Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Strategic Planning and Coordinating Committee.
Sylvie currently serves as Senior Director at Solis Mammography in California and continues to mentor and lead others through volunteer service with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Catholic Charities, and the Center for Immigration Healthcare – the very organizations that helped her family when they arrived in the United States. She is a testament to courage, service, gratitude and the Ursuline Core Values.
Coach Kevin Collins is well known across campus at Sacred Heart. In the 1970s, his family’s business (now Collins Auto Group) helped Ursuline Sisters purchase their cars and later, he was part of our campus community for over 15 years as his three daughters attended both Sacred Heart Model School and Sacred Heart Academy. A long-time sponsor of the Sacred Heart Schools’ Interlude, Apple Tournament, and Braveheart Tournament, Kevin has also given countless hours of service to leadership initiatives at Sacred Heart, including capital campaigns and the founding of SHA’s first tennis courts on campus in 2000. When his daughter, Whitney Collins Thompson ‘01, became head coach of SHA’s varsity tennis team a decade ago, Kevin enthusiastically attended each match and gave sage advice to both coach and players. Soon, he became the assistant tennis coach, a position he relishes. Together, the father-daughter duo has coached 6 singles, one doubles, and 6 team state champions for SHA. He is a valued mentor, coach, and embodiment of the Ursuline Core Values. Kevin Collins leads with integrity, teaching his student athletes that success is measured not only by wins, but by compassion, humor, service, and quiet leadership.
Valkyrie Hall of Fame:
Marc Breit (Pink & White Game flag football coach)
Maddie Hamilton '15 (Golf)
Autumn Miller '10 (Basketball)
Leah Stevens '15 (Swimming)
Valkyrie Hall of Fame: Marc Breit
Marc Breit leads a busy life as an attorney, dad, and new grandfather, but he happily shared his passion for coaching flag football with SHA for a combined 13 years as SHA’s coach for the popular Pink and White Flag Football game. The springtime classic pits senior athletes from SHA against Assumption, and has made a profound impact on our community, collectively raising over $375,000 to benefit Norton Cancer Institute. Marc took the coaching challenge in 2009 and built teams of senior athletes who come together to fight cancer and grow research funds through the unique community collaboration between SHA, Assumption, Trinity and St. Xavier.
Marc, who like most of us, has watched loved ones battle cancer, says he “coaches for a cure.” Throughout his years of coaching the Pink and White game, he watched his daughters, Rachel and Ava play, and his sons A.J. and John, along with Marc’s wife, Lisa, all pitched in to help lead the Valkyries to many victories. Marc coached with drive and a spirit of compassion and motivation that built core memories and experiences that countless students will take with them as valuable life lessons.
Valkyrie Hall of Fame: Maddie Hamilton ’15
Madeleine “Maddie” Hamilton ’15 is not just a golfer – she’s the embodiment of the Valkyrie spirit. During her time at SHA, she helped lead the golf team to four KSHAA State Championships, shattering records with the largest margin of victory in 2011 and the lowest team score in 2013. Individually, she won more than 30 junior and high school tournaments, including the prestigious Bunny Daugherty Invitational twice, setting a course record of 66. Her senior year she posted a 71.50 stroke average and sank a 14-foot clutch putt to force a playoff and eventually help her team win their fourth straight state championship. On the national stage, she earned a #31 ranking in the AJGA/Polo rankings and competed in the esteemed Wyndham Cup. As a student-athlete at the University of Notre Dame, she fired the program’s lowest round of 65 (-6) at the 2017 Schooner Fall Classic and by the end of her college career, her 74.89 stroke average ranked fifth-best in program history.
Maddie is currently studying medicine at the University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine and has served SHA as an assistant golf coach, where she mentors student athletes with the same poise, determination and grace that defined her time at SHA.
Valkyrie Hall of Fame: Autumn Miller '10
Autumn Miller ’10 dreamed of being a basketball star since she was six years old. She joined the Zoomin Bratz AAU basketball team and honed her craft at an early age. At SHA, she was one of two freshmen to make the varsity basketball team, and she quickly became a starting guard and leader. In the summer before her senior year, she suffered a devastating ACL injury but continued to inspire her teammates from the sidelines. She was later named a McDonald’s AA All American nominee. She earned a scholarship and played collegiate ball for Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas. She later attended Illinois’ John A. Logan College where her team became an All American, All Conference and All Region 1st team. She then ended her college career at the University of Southern Indiana where she was voted team captain and helped lead her team to the Great Lakes Valley Conference finals and a NCAA bid.
Today, she continues to mentor and coach young girls in the Galaxy basketball league. She enjoys a career in banking and business development, and volunteers for Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
Valkyrie Hall of Fame: Leah Stevens ‘15
When Leah Stevens ‘15 makes a splash, it’s not just in a pool. Whether it was waking up at 4 a.m. to go to swim practice or excelling in the classroom, Leah was a consummate worker who strived for excellence every day at SHA. Leah is one of SHA’s most decorated swimmers and was named the 2014 KHSAA Athlete of the Year, a six-time KHSAA individual event champion, and six-time KHSAA relay champion. She was a member of four KHSAA state champion teams, one of which was named number one in the nation. She set SHA team records in the 200 and 500 freestyle and in relay events. She also won the SHA swim and dive scholar-athlete award her senior year, and later, was a member of the USA Swimming National Junior Team and participated in the 2016 US Olympic Trials.
In Leah’s collegiate career at Stanford University, she was a National Champion and individual finalist at the NCAA National Championships. She served as a team captain was a four-time All American and was a PAC-12 conference champion in the 1650 freestyle. She is currently enrolled in UCLA’s medical school, where no doubt, her perseverance, pride, and academic excellence shines as brightly as it did at SHA.
Ursuline Teaching Legacy Award: Sally Baker Rothenburger '57
accepted posthumously by her daughters
Sharon Rothenburger Masters ’87, Kristi Rothenburger Kelly ’91 and Rebecca Rothenburger '97
Sally spent nearly her entire life on the Ursuline Campus. When her mother died when she was a small child, the Ursuline Sisters, including Sr. Brendan Conlon and Sr. Vivian Dreisbach, helped guide Sally and her two sisters. Sally was a graduate of both Sacred Heart Model School ’53 and then Sacred Heart Academy ’57.
Sally taught language arts, religion, movement, health, and ballet to countless SHMS students throughout her storied 38-year career (1970-2008). She received the SHMS Alumni of the Year Award in 2004. Sally and her husband Vernon raised four children: her daughters--Sharon Rothenburger Masters ’87, Kristi Rothenburger Kelly ’91 and Rebecca Rothenburger '97--all graduated from SHA and her son, Stephen Rothenburger ’79, graduated from the Model School. Like her mentors, the Ursuline Sisters, Sally was devoted to education and the Ursuline Core Values. Sadly, Sally passed away in January 2026; we will proudly continue to celebrate and honor her lifelong dedication and service to Sacred Heart Schools.
Honorary Diploma: Tim Rutledge
Tim Rutledge enjoyed a long, successful career at Brown-Forman and has quietly given his time to many organizations throughout Louisville, serving on and chairing boards at Nativity Academy, St. John’s Center, Leadership Kentucky, Maryhurst, Catholic Education Foundation, and the University of Louisville College of Business. He served on the Sacred Heart Schools Board of Trustees when his oldest daughter Julia ’17 was at SHA and continued long after his youngest daughter, Hannah, graduated from SHA in 2020. As Chair of the SHS Board of Trustees, Tim helped welcome Dr. Karen McNay as the current president of Sacred Heart Schools. The Rutledge family has a long generational history on campus, and they continue to support Sacred Heart through service and scholarships today. Tim’s sister Marianne is a 1995 graduate; his father, E. Peter Rutledge, is a former trustee and 2016 recipient of the Laurel Award; and his great aunt, St. Annette Rutledge, OSU, is remembered for her role in raising more than 1000 boys at the St. Joseph Children’s Home over a span of forty years. In retirement, Tim is pursuing a master’s degree in theology at St. Meinrad Seminary, and last year, he walked over 300 miles on the faith journey on the Camino de Santiago. His faith—and his unwavering commitment to the Ursuline Core Values—continues to inspire.
Tim’s quiet, humble leadership has changed countless students’ lives, and his guidance has helped SHA maintain the legacy of excellence in education it has enjoyed for over a century. He is driven by faith to serve his community and shares the spirit of a true Valkyrie.