Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences Department of Speech-Language Pathology Dash Winner

From left, Brittany Hendrix (first winner of the Make the most of the dash -Ashley Hess legacy scholarship) and her family.

Many people knew and loved Ashley Kaye Hess, a cheerleader, dancer, teacher, and NSU speech-language pathology master’s candidate, before she was killed in a tragic car accident on May 14, 2016 at the age of 28. On May 14, 2020, Brittany Hendrix was awarded the first “Make the Most of the Dash/Ashley Kaye Hess Changing Lives Scholarship”.

Brittany Hendrix is a 27-year-old graduate from Freed-Hardeman University where she received a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish. She is currently a graduate student at Nova Southeastern University pursuing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology with the intent to graduate in December of 2020. She has a special interest in feeding and swallowing and working in early intervention with medically fragile children in the birth to three population.

Brittany Hendrix was born in Tennessee but moved to Aruba at the age of six where she lived for eight years. In 2007 she and her family returned to Tennessee where she completed high school and college. She met her husband, Riley, in college and they were married in Florida in 2014.

Brittany Hendrix has most recently worked as the Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) coordinator at Meadowbrook Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale. She has also worked for the Broward County schools system for the past six years. She has taught fifth grade gifted/high achievers, third grade, and LLI. She has always enjoyed working in title-1 schools with a high ESOL population.

She currently resides in Coral Springs with her husband, Riley Hendrix, her two daughters, 4-year-old Juliette and nine-month old Charlotte, one cat, two dogs and a fish. She especially enjoys traveling, reading, playing board games, and spending time at home with her family.

Brittany met with Ashley’s mother Lisa and Brittany stated, “I am deeply honored to be the inaugural winner of the scholarship and will make Ashley’s legacy part of my career goals and dedication to my patients.”