Mathews continues to shine off and on the softball diamond

Former Cibola Lady Raider softball player Madison Mathews is awarded Social Justice Award for Northern Illinois Athletic Department

DEKALB, Illinois (KYMA, KECY-TV) - Former Cibola Raider Madison Mathews is making a big impact on the campus of Northern Illinois.

The 2021 Cibola High School grad just completed her junior year playing for Northern Illinois University, a Division I program located in DeKalb, Illinois.

Mathews finished the season playing in 43 games for the Huskies and starting in 39 of them. Mathews finished the season with a .280 batting average, seven homeruns and 20 runs batted in.

Mathews is also excelling off the softball diamond. Madison was recently awarded the Social Justice Award for NIU Athletic Department. This is the second time she's been honored with the award.

This past October, she was also presented with the Richard A Flournory Award Winner for Diversity and Inclusion.

"It really just started with advocacy surrounding mental health not only at the institution to make sure we had access to care but conference wide as well," Mathews said. "So we've really made a lot of progress there. Each institution in the MAC has at least one mental health care practitioner on staff for their student-athletes."

Another cause Mathews is working on is maintaining amateur status for student athletes, as opposed to being considered employees. Something she believes is vital to the survival of college athletics.

Madison is no stranger to going above and beyond, while a student at Cibola High School, Madison graduated with two associate degrees from Arizona Western College.

She is currently working on a Masters Degree at Northern Illinois University.