The two have been playing softball for as long as they can remember. They were teammates in various youth leagues and even through high school. After landing at different colleges, though, they never imagined that they’d find themselves on the same team again.Ěý

Cassady began her college softball career as a Cardinal in 2019, playing 34 games with four starts as a freshman. Carmyn, who is almost two years older, transferred to UofL from Auburn before the 2020 season.Ěý

This past 2022 season – their last together– Carmyn came through holding the school-record .408 career batting average and an All-ACC First Team selection. She was also selected for NFCA All-America and NFCA All-Southeast Region teams.ĚýCassady was named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll

The sisters’ skill and grit filled the stat sheets while they both earned their degrees. Carmyn earned her marketing degree in 2021 and pursued an MBA. Cassady majored in psychology with a minor in Spanish.

Their impact, however, extended well beyond the classroom and the field. While active on the Cardinals’ roster, the sisters collaborated to sell branded gear for a purpose, donating their Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) earnings to the national nonprofit called.

Blessings in a Backpack collects food for school children who are fed during the week through federally-funded Free and Reduced Meal Program and who are at risk of going hungry on the weekends. The sisters, who volunteered at the organization’s Louisville office, created a logo and brand for Team Greenwood to generate proceeds for this cause.Ěý

The Greenwood sisters have moved on to the next chapters in their journey.ĚýCarmyn is working at a Bush Keller Sporting Goods store in Indiana, and has also had the chance to play professionally with Florida Vibe in Bradenton, Florida. Cassady is now attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham to pursue a masters degree. Her softball career continues.

Even though their time as Cardinals has come to an end, both maintain a deep fondness for UofL.Ěý

“I would like to thank Louisville for supporting me and cheering us on no matter what the outcome ended up being. I’m glad I am going to be able to be a Card forever,” Carmyn said.Ěý

“The love we felt from the fans made representing Louisville easy,” Cassady added. “I also want to thank the support staff in the athletic department because there is not a program in the country that dedicates as much time as they do to the overall wellness of their athletes.”

The 2018 political science graduate plans to go to Hungary in January to begin a prestigious Fulbright research award though the U.S. Department of State to explore international relations.Ěý

It’s just the latest chance to pursue her interests abroad, and she credits most of them to the continuing aid, interest and support from UofL mentors.

“I think the big thing I learned at UofL was to try things — to put your name out there and try options,” Golding said. The Florida native arrived in Louisville with her political science major in mind and a legal career as a goal, following in the footsteps of her father, 1986 law alum John Golding. However, her path to complete the undergraduate major led her in a different direction, thanks to the encouragement of faculty and staff and to other options explored during her time on campus.

“I was open to other opportunities,” she said. “My mentors at UofL were able to see in me something I couldn’t see in myself.”

Her UofL selection was cinched when she visited Belknap Campus for the Accolade admissions event for high school academic achievers “and fell in love.” Once enrolled, she ended up spending loads of time in the building where her major classes were.

“I was political science to the core,” Golding said. “I lived in Ford Hall and the Ford Hall basement (study area). I recommend UofL’s political science department to anyone I meet. They helped foster that passion I already had for political science.”

She zeroed in on one of those professors, Julie Bunck, her first year at UofL. Golding remembers sitting in Bunck’s class thinking, “somehow, someway, she’s going to be my mentor.” And she was – and remains so.

“Dr. Bunck, in particular, likes for people to check in and tell how we’re doing,” Golding said. “She’s a friend and also a mentor, too.”

Not all the nurturing folks taught in Ford Hall, however, Golding was in the Honors Program, where Luke Buckman and Kirsten Armstrong – “people who always encouraged my crazy ideas” – enriched her college experience. Golding served on the Honors Student Council and as an Honors peer adviser for incoming students for two summers, as well as participating in other related programs.

Plunging into the Honors charitable fundraiser – a huge week-long, biennial book and media sale – she helped run it the year it benefited Camp Quality Kentuckiana for children diagnosed with cancer. About the same time she also worked heavily on raiseRED, the largest UofL student-run philanthropy effort, to raise funds to fight pediatric cancer.

“It is a lot of work,” she said. “It’s always worth it in the end when you see the checks (for the charities’ donations).”

Speaking of hard work, Golding commended everyone in another UofL office, the Office of National and International Scholarship Opportunities, for shepherding her efforts to gain the Fulbright award she ultimately won.Ěý

“I think that’s something that sets UofL apart, that office,” Golding said.

“Fulbright is a very intensive process, but it’s one of the most prestigious scholarships that someone can win,” she said.

The first thing she and fellow applicants realized is to prepare to discard the first application draft, no matter how hard they labored on it, and to keep revising.

“The big thing is to go to people for advice, having people help you,” Golding said. “Everybody at UofL is trying to help you make it better. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

That light first shone when she qualified as a Fulbright alternate, although she didn’t get the call to go that year. As an English Speaking Union scholar, Golding also spent time at Oxford University focusing on European Union politics.

After graduating from UofL, she opted to study abroad again, earning a master’s degree in European studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. “It ended up being a phenomenal experience,” Golding said.

Her second try for a Fulbright paid off, and that’s why she plans to be in Hungary next year researching the role of central Europe in trans-Atlantic energy cooperation.

Golding hopes her Fulbright term next year could also enable her to remain in Europe to help with a Budapest summer school opportunity that she enjoyed last year, when she was the only American participating at Antall Jozsef Knowledge Center, where she studied regional security politics.

Since summer 2019 she has been stateside in Florida, applying that political acumen to work on a congressional campaign as well as serving as volunteer coordinator with the Blessings in a Backpack nonprofit organization.

So where might all this lead?

Although she admits her dream job would be U.S. secretary of state, Golding does foresee herself “working in D.C. in some capacity with the State Department.” All the building blocks so far are adding up to work in foreign policy or diplomacy.

“I’m excited to see how everything falls together,” she said.

Goli is both a Henry Vogt Scholar and a KEES Scholar. He serves as the founder of both the Louisville Social Innovation Lab and the Droplet Water Project, and is also a member of the Indian Student Association. He has been involved in research in diabetes care and treatment at the University of Louisville and Harvard Medical Schools.

, Goli teamed up with UofL alum Jarui Desai (’18) to provide clean drinking water to those who need it most.  As of now, they have completed water projects in both India and Colombia.  

Last year, , a prominent award that goes to sophomores and juniors pursuing research careers in math, science and engineering. There have been just five Goldwater Scholars at UofL in the past decade.

In 2017, Goli earned the CCU Outstanding Freshmen Student Award. The next year, he earned the CCU Outstanding Sophomore Student Award. The year after that, the CCU Outstanding Junior Student Award.

Goli has certainly shown a pattern of achievement and a global pandemic hasn’t slowed that down.

Goli and Nico Ferreyra, another UofL student, recently assembled a committee of volunteers that have so far distributed nearly 800 meals to those who need them during the COVID-19 outbreak. The students are working with Blessings in a Backpack to facilitate the meal deliveries and are focused on making sure the food needs of the city’s elderly population are being met during this crisis.

According to Goli, the committee he and Ferreyra assembled is built in partnership “with inspiring local nonprofit leaders and include the key public organizations working on this issue.”

“We are excited to continue mobilizing our volunteers in a safe and coordinated manner,” Goli said.

For John Nevitt, director of economic mobility at Metro United Way, Goli’s efforts are not surprising considering his extensive resume.

“Praneeth Goli has been an extremely thoughtful and engaged Metro United Way volunteer, serving on our Community Impact Cabinet,” Nevitt said. “As you may know, he is extremely industrious, having launched two non-profit organizations since becoming a student at UofL, and soon to help with the creation of a social innovation lab at the university.”

Earlier this month, Goli was presented with a Cardinal Award. Formerly known as Mr. and Ms. Cardinal, the Cardinal Awards are presented by UofL’s Student Activities Board and is based on academic excellence, co-curricular activities and service to the university. It’s clear, however, that Goli’s service extends far beyond the university.

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