Next On Deck: Erin Howard's Leadership Journey and Legacy
5/15/2026 1:30:00 PM | Softball
In today's world, leaders shape and influence the present to create a hopefully better future. They could be leading a country, running a non-profit or growing a business. Yet for most of them, being a leader was not necessarily where they thought they'd end up. However, for Seton Hall softball's Erin Howard, it felt like her calling and purpose.
"Being a leader is something that I consider to be fundamental to who I am as a person," Howard shared. "It is something I have always strived to be in any community. Being able to help others or elevate them to a higher level."
The senior from Skillman, New Jersey, has grown to become a constant presence both on and off the field at Seton Hall. In conference play this year, Howard earned All-BIG EAST second team honors after hitting .318 and throwing out a conference-high 12 runners on the basepaths. In the community, Howard frequently volunteered at events, including Grow a Row and Read Across America, while also serving as President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). For all her work, she was the 2026 recipient of the Sue Dilley Regan Champion of Change award, an honor given out annually to the female athlete who has dedicated their time and efforts to inspire others to advocate for inclusion, create a sense of belonging, serve as a role model and strive for the advancement of girls and women in sports and beyond.
Howard's journey with SAAC began as a way for her to engage with athletes across the Seton Hall community, not just her own team. But the longer she was involved with the organization, the "The more time I spent as part of SAAC," Howard shared, "I felt a greater responsibility to build a community for other people who were in the same position as me as an underclassman." As an upperclassman, she realized that she now had the chance to help those who were in her position before her.
At the helm of SAAC in her final year, Howard felt there were too many choices to determine one standout moment from her term. Among the many events she was involved in, the organization's participation in this past year's Women and Girls in Sports Day event before a basketball game stood out to her. For Howard, hopefully inspiring the nearly 200 girls who were there to stay engaged in sports and showing them what athletics can offer as they grow meant a lot.
However, one thing Howard has enjoyed more than anything is watching the underclassmen involved with the organization grow as leaders and people. "There is one sophomore who was new to the organization this year that has continually come to me to see how they can be more involved," she said. Â Opportunities like that, to help shape the student-athlete leaders of the future, felt like a key tenet of what she wanted to achieve at the helm of SAAC. "There were so many upperclassmen when I was a freshman and sophomore who did a lot for me, so I felt like I needed to pass that on."
That sense of responsibility for those coming after her especially trickles down to the softball team. With a relatively young, inexperienced roster this year, Howard adapted her leadership style to fit the people around her. "It has been a rewarding focus of mine to help set the younger girls up for success in the future, even if it does not show up on paper this year," she said. "I know that I have made an impact helping them transition into the softball team, into athletics, into the school. They know they can always reach out to me and that's what it's all about."
With everything she had done over her four years as part of SAAC, Howard's final year as part of SAAC felt like a culmination of years of hard work, especially in the minds of other members of the SAAC Executive Board.
"She is a tremendous person," shared cross-country athlete and SAAC Events Coordinator Stephen Beaman. "She is very driven and very, she wants to create spaces where people feel welcome and are able to embrace Seton Hall athletics. I can't speak highly enough of her."
With graduation on the horizon and graduate school in her future, Howard hopes the legacy she leaves at this school, both as a member of the softball team and SAAC, will remain strong.
"I hope that people remember me as someone who genuinely cared about them and wanted the best for them," Howard mused. "I hope I taught them not to be scared and stand up for what they believe in. At the end of the day, any person can make a change and stand up for what they believe in."
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"Being a leader is something that I consider to be fundamental to who I am as a person," Howard shared. "It is something I have always strived to be in any community. Being able to help others or elevate them to a higher level."
The senior from Skillman, New Jersey, has grown to become a constant presence both on and off the field at Seton Hall. In conference play this year, Howard earned All-BIG EAST second team honors after hitting .318 and throwing out a conference-high 12 runners on the basepaths. In the community, Howard frequently volunteered at events, including Grow a Row and Read Across America, while also serving as President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). For all her work, she was the 2026 recipient of the Sue Dilley Regan Champion of Change award, an honor given out annually to the female athlete who has dedicated their time and efforts to inspire others to advocate for inclusion, create a sense of belonging, serve as a role model and strive for the advancement of girls and women in sports and beyond.
Howard's journey with SAAC began as a way for her to engage with athletes across the Seton Hall community, not just her own team. But the longer she was involved with the organization, the "The more time I spent as part of SAAC," Howard shared, "I felt a greater responsibility to build a community for other people who were in the same position as me as an underclassman." As an upperclassman, she realized that she now had the chance to help those who were in her position before her.
At the helm of SAAC in her final year, Howard felt there were too many choices to determine one standout moment from her term. Among the many events she was involved in, the organization's participation in this past year's Women and Girls in Sports Day event before a basketball game stood out to her. For Howard, hopefully inspiring the nearly 200 girls who were there to stay engaged in sports and showing them what athletics can offer as they grow meant a lot.
However, one thing Howard has enjoyed more than anything is watching the underclassmen involved with the organization grow as leaders and people. "There is one sophomore who was new to the organization this year that has continually come to me to see how they can be more involved," she said. Â Opportunities like that, to help shape the student-athlete leaders of the future, felt like a key tenet of what she wanted to achieve at the helm of SAAC. "There were so many upperclassmen when I was a freshman and sophomore who did a lot for me, so I felt like I needed to pass that on."
That sense of responsibility for those coming after her especially trickles down to the softball team. With a relatively young, inexperienced roster this year, Howard adapted her leadership style to fit the people around her. "It has been a rewarding focus of mine to help set the younger girls up for success in the future, even if it does not show up on paper this year," she said. "I know that I have made an impact helping them transition into the softball team, into athletics, into the school. They know they can always reach out to me and that's what it's all about."
With everything she had done over her four years as part of SAAC, Howard's final year as part of SAAC felt like a culmination of years of hard work, especially in the minds of other members of the SAAC Executive Board.
"She is a tremendous person," shared cross-country athlete and SAAC Events Coordinator Stephen Beaman. "She is very driven and very, she wants to create spaces where people feel welcome and are able to embrace Seton Hall athletics. I can't speak highly enough of her."
With graduation on the horizon and graduate school in her future, Howard hopes the legacy she leaves at this school, both as a member of the softball team and SAAC, will remain strong.
"I hope that people remember me as someone who genuinely cared about them and wanted the best for them," Howard mused. "I hope I taught them not to be scared and stand up for what they believe in. At the end of the day, any person can make a change and stand up for what they believe in."
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