Ollie Bream ’25 receives NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship

Make it 18 selections since 2018 for The College of Wooster, which was recently notified swimming and diving All-American Ollie Bream will be receiving the prestigious $10,000 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Bream is Wooster’s second NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship selection this academic year, and it runs the College’s streak to six consecutive years with multiple recipients.

“This award is a testament to the holistic way Wooster is able to support student-athletes and I cannot be more honored to have been selected,” shared Bream. “I feel incredibly grateful and overwhelmed with the amount of support I received during the nomination process. I want to sincerely and wholeheartedly thank everyone at the College for all the hours they put in getting to know me and my peers throughout my time here. At other schools, you rarely get the chance to see the who you are athletically and who you are academically intersect, but at Wooster, I am so grateful to have an entire group of people who know who I am in all aspects of life.”

Bream capped her storied career with NCAA Div. III All-America honors in the 200 butterfly. She placed 13th in her final collegiate swim with a time of 2:03.70. Bream qualified for the Div. III Championships for the third time by tying the 12-year-old 200 butterfly school record with a time of 2:02.95 at Kenyon College’s First Chance meet, matching Kate Hunt’s mark from 2013. At nationals, Bream went 1:51.14 in the 200 freestyle to break an 8-year-old program record and finish 18th, two spots out from a swim in finals and another All-American honor. Bream’s final national meet started in the 200 individual medley, where she was 34th with a time of 2:06.82.

As a junior, Bream qualified for the Div. III Championships for the second time, Her best showing was 21st in the 200 butterfly, where she touched at 2:04.83. Bream went 2:03.46 at Kenyon’s Fast Chance meet to earn a spot a nationals. She debuted on the national scene as a first-year, swimming a 2:03.74 in the 200 butterfly to qualify. Bream took 22nd in her signature event with a time of 2:05.42 at the Div. III Championships.

At the conference level, Bream was a six-time All-North Coast Athletic Conference performer. Her debut conference meet featured four All-NCAC honors. Individually, her 2:03.74 was third in the 200 butterfly, while she helped the 200 medley (1:47.03), 400 medley (3:54.70), and 800 freestyle relays (7:51.68) to third-place finishes. As a junior, Bream was part of All-NCAC 400 medley (3:53.33) and 800 freestyle relays (7:45.70).

The three-time College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District® qualifier graduated in May 2025 with a degree in communication sciences and disorders. Her Independent Study utilized experimental designs to explore the relationship between toy type and volubility in preverbal infants. She examined whether electronic toys that light up and make sounds on their own or traditional toys without batteries are associated with a greater number of prelinguistic vocalizations in infants between eight and 12 months old. As a communication sciences and disorders undergraduate, Bream worked as a student clinician at the Freedlander Speech and Hearing Clinic. There, she provided speech and language therapy services for community patients and implemented treatment plans for client short- and long-term care. She was elected the treasurer of the campus chapter of the National Speech Language Hearing Association and served as a teaching apprentice for multiple courses. The resident assistant worked as a lifeguard on campus and a swimming instructor. She served as a member of the student-athlete group that met with finalists for Wooster’s athletic director search in 2023 and regularly assisted the team in a variety of capacities.

Bream will be attending the University of Kansas to obtain a master’s degree in speech-language pathology.

“This scholarship means I will be able to pursue my future careers goals with a level of financial support from an organization that has been a massive part of my life for the last four years,” wrapped up Bream. “From being honored as a senior at the most recent NCAA Div. III Championships in Greensboro to traveling to Indianapolis for nationals as a first-year, the NCAA has put in the work to see that swimming as a sport continues to be supported an recognized on the national level. It has been incredible to see the level of development and record-breaking performances coming from NCAA student-athletes.”

Bream is Wooster’s 32nd NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient and third from women’s swimming and diving. She joins Debbie King (1996) and Kayla Heising (2004). Men’s soccer’s Max Wiley was Wooster’s other recipient this year.

Wooster maintains its third-place ranking among NCAA institutions for most recipients over the last five academic years, trailing just Stanford University (20) and Emory University (14).

Posted in Alumni on June 13, 2025.