Starkweather was selected from a pool of 182 applications, the NCAA Division II Degree Completion Award Committee awarded 86 applicants from 63 different Division II institutions. The committee also selected 10 alternates.

The Division II Degree-Completion Award program provides financial assistance to deserving student-athletes with completion of a first baccalaureate degree.

Candidates are student-athletes who have exhausted their athletics eligibility and have received athletics financial aid. Recipients are selected on the basis of several factors, with emphasis on academic performance. Other factors considered are financial circumstances, athletics achievement, and involvement in campus and community activities.

Starkweather played the last two seasons as a member of the Lions volleyball program. As a senior, she was sixth on the team with 92 kills and 90 digs; meanwhile, as a junior, she was third on the team with 236 digs, fourth with 21 block assists and fifth with 157 kills and 25 blocks.