BE senior Ava Martin wins ACE Scholarship for resilience through neuromuscular disorder

Ava Martin, a senior at Bishop England High School, has been named this year’s winner of the Exchange Club of Daniel Island’s Accepting the Challenge of Excellence Award, earning a $2,500 scholarship that recognizes students who have faced significant life challenges and met them with resilience, grit, and determination. 

On most high school mornings, Martin’s day began not with classes or practice but with something far more difficult. In her essay, she describes a bathroom scene that captures how much life had shifted: “I find myself surrounded by marble polka dots, a seven-foot glass door, and various gold gadgets,” she wrote. “Maybe today I can do it.” What followed was often an attempt at something as simple as brushing her hair, now complicated by a body that no longer responded the way it once did. 

Her essay centers on dystonia, a neuromuscular disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions, chronic pain, and major physical limitations. What used to be automatic – walking, driving, even getting ready for the day – became something closer to a negotiation. “If I couldn’t conquer the mountain in a day, I would climb it one rock at a time,” she wrote. 

Before her diagnosis, Martin was a state tennis champion and a straight-A student balancing a demanding academic and athletic schedule. As symptoms worsened, she lost the ability to compete the way she once had, and eventually, to compete at all. Even then, she didn’t step away from the sport entirely. She adjusted, adapted, and pushed through what she could, finishing a 14-1 season that she described as proof she was “more than my diagnosis.” 

When playing was no longer possible, she found a different way to stay in the game. “Becoming the JV coach helped me stay involved and be a part of a team that is filled with all of my friends,” Martin said. “It was very rewarding to see the progress of the team and still feel connected.” 

Much of her high school experience became defined by medical appointments and missed school days. Still, she remained focused on finishing with her class and staying engaged in her coursework. Through it all, she said, the constant was not certainty but hope. “I knew I just needed to find the right people who could help me and that things would eventually get better.” 

Cheryl Herzog, chair of the ACE committee, said that persistence is exactly what the scholarship is meant to recognize. “Every year we get very compelling essays from students who have suffered physical, emotional, and life challenges and how they have dealt with it,” Herzog said. She pointed to Martin’s continued commitment to school and tennis despite her diagnosis and treatments. “She didn’t want her disease to define her.” 

Martin’s resilience is something she hopes others can take from her experience. “Even when life feels completely out of your control, you are not stuck. You can grow through it and come out stronger than you ever expected.” 

At Clemson University this fall, she plans to carry that mindset into the future, along with a drive to better understand dystonia and use biomedical engineering to help others facing similar challenges.