John Cooper School senior Grace Minarovic signs with Division I Northwestern University

THE WOODLANDS, TX – The John Cooper School Athletic Department held a signing ceremony to recognize senior Grace Minarovic, who will play softball for Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois starting in the fall of 2023. She will be the first Cooper athlete to play Division I softball.

Accompanied by her parents, Grace – who has been attending Cooper since kindergarten – took her seat in front of dozens of students, parents, faculty, coaches, and teammates as she signed her letter of intent.

Grace’s mother, Jane Minarovic, beamed with pride at her daughter’s accomplishment. “I’ve been taking her to softball since she was four years old, and we’ve been pretty much at softball tournaments every weekend since then,” she said. Northwestern washer favorite school by far; I have a son who goes there now. He’ll be graduating right when she starts, and he loves it there. I’m going to miss her for sure.”

John Hoye, director of athletics at John Cooper, has tracked Grace’s progress for years. “From middle school on upward, she has played softball here. She’s always been the attractor of people and friends, and her progression from being a great middle school player to a freshman star to being a leader in her senior year is a testament to exactly the kind of student athletes we want to have here at John Cooper. Grace is the prime example of Cooper school spirit. Academically, she’s strong, athletically she’s great, and her character is above anything else.”

When asked about the effort it took to get to the day’s signing ceremony and the culmination of a dream, Grace Minarovic said, “It was definitely a long journey. The recruiting process starts early freshman year, and for it to just now be finishing is a full-circle moment. I’m so excited about where I’ve chosen to commit. Northwestern has been my dream school for a very long time, and I couldn’t be more happy.”

Besides her burgeoning college-level softball career, she is planning on going on a business route for her academic track, eager to absorb all that Northwestern has to offer. Her final word on the matter? “Go ‘Cats!”