College Counseling Services
You’re Invited!
Everything You Need to Know About Riding in College
Ava Stearns, Auburn University BS ‘22, MPA ‘24
Date: Friday, March 20, 2026
Time: 4:30 - 6 pm
Location: Signature Academics 12300 South Shore Blvd. Wellington, FL
Ava Stearns’s combination of exceptional equestrian achievements, educational excellence, and real-world business experience make her uniquely qualified to advise today’s equestrian student-athletes on next steps for college and career.
During Ava’s college equestrian career, she earned SEC & NCEA Academic All-American accolades from 2019 to 2023, All-American Athlete honors eight times and SEC Flat Rider of the Year two times. She also ranks in the Auburn Equestrian Top 10 in career wins for both Fences and Flat. Prior to college, Ava won Maclay Finals, placed second at WIHS Finals, and was twice reserve champion at USEF Platinum Perfomance Talent Search Finals - East.
After earning a Master of Public Administration from Auburn in 2024, Ava joined BRG as a consultant in the Boston office. She continues to be involved in equestrian sports as an on-air commentator for broadcasts and live streams of major equestrian competitions. As a scholar and an athlete at Auburn, Ava leveraged flexibility, knowledge, work ethic, and creativity, attributes which contribute to her “real world” success every day.
College Counseling - Helping Students Define and Achieve their Goals
Signature’s process always begins by getting to know each student as an individual. The personal relationship helps the student and counselor work together to define goals and processes, leading to an individual, year-by-year strategic plan. Our team works with students from rising 9th graders through senior year in high school and beyond. We are happy to work with students at any phase of the college process, from the incoming high school freshman who wants to begin planning a course of study and extracurriculars for his/her high school career, through the juniors and seniors who are developing college lists, planning visits, and tackling applications. College counseling services are customized for each student, and often include all support for many school years. In other cases, we come in later in the process to support writing personal statements and showcasing extracurriculars. And because equestrian sports are sometimes difficult to explain to non-horse people, Signature often gets involved to help equestrian student-athletes explain and describe clearly how important the sport is to them.
NCAA Recruiting
The Signature team understands NCAA recruiting and guides students and families through the process. The NCAA process starts earlier and moves fast. Equestrian student-athletes who are interested in pursuing opportunities on NCAA Division1 teams should:
Register online at the NCAA National Clearing House as early as middle school; and,
Be competing successfully in the equitation divisions (at least 3’3”, preferably 3’6”) by the summer after their freshman years in high school.
Signature’s college counseling services are set up to be flexible. Some students and families want Signature to guide all aspects of the college admissions process, even including travel planning for school visits. Others are looking for support primarily in college list development or essay-writing. As with our academic tutoring, the Signature team customizes services to meet each student's needs. If a student works with another test prep tutor or college counselor she really likes, we are happy to coordinate with that person, also.
No one offers more high-level educational options for ambitious student-athletes.
Contact Wendy Salomon
908.200.8862
info@signatureacademics.com