The Major of the Year Award is presented by the College and University Physical Education Council of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. The award highlights outstanding students from colleges and universities across the nation who are majoring in physical education. McGowan was recognized in a ceremony held at the national conference of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education in Philadelphia and received a certificate of recognition. Her name will be published in NASPE News, the national newsletter of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

McGowan was involved with many professional and service activities while pursuing her physical education degree at Southeast. She was a coordinator for the Adopt-A-School program for two years at Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau. She coordinated all volunteers who worked in support of the physical education program at Franklin School. She served as president of the Physical Education Majors Club during the past school year. She was a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority during her four years in college, and the national education honors society, Kappa Delta Pi, inducted her into their membership. In November, McGowan was honored by the Missouri Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance with the state-level Major of the Year Award. She accepted that honor at the organization's annual meeting at the Lake of the Ozarks in November. At that meeting, she and a group of students from the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation presented a demonstration of classroom activities that can be used for team building and character development. This summer, she is applying her professional expertise while working with the O'Fallon YMCA Fun-in-the-Sun summer camp.