Tavia Hunt bids sentimental farewell as daughter Ava embarks on new life journey
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- Tavia Hunt posted a tarmac photo as daughter Ava departs for YWAM missions.
- Ava pauses SMU studies for six-month Discipleship Training and global outreach.
- Family statement frames the transition as faith-driven release and maternal pride.
Life is never a straight road, is it? No sooner do you head off in one direction, another path presents itself. And so it is today for Ava Hunt, the youngest child of Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt and his wife, Tavia.
Early Wednesday morning Tavia posted a photo of herself embracing 20-year-old Ava on an airport tarmac as her college-age “baby” and bestie headed off on a new adventure.
She shared that Ava, who enrolled last year at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, her father’s alma mater, is taking a break to begin discipleship training in Hawaii, “followed by world missions with YWAM in her gap year.”
YWAM, or Youth With a Mission, began in 1960 as a way to get young people active in mission work. Today it is involved in many kinds of outreach and ministry. It describes itself as a “global movement of Christians dedicated to knowing God and making God known.”
The organization’s Discipleship Training School is a six month program “blending classroom learning, small group activities, personal reflection, practical service, and community living,” according to its website.
The training typically includes a lecture phase and outreach that sends teams to work around the world.
The national spotlight found Ava in December 2023, when she posed for a photo with Taylor Swift at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, shortly after the singer began dating Chiefs player Travis Kelce (now Swift’s fiance).
The Hunt family gave Swift a birthday present: a crystal-studded Judith Leiber purse shaped like a microphone. The photo of Ava with Swift and the elegantly wrapped box went viral.
Until then, the youngest of Clark and Tavia’s three children had largely flown under the radar, especially compared to her headline-making, social media influencer older sister, Gracie. The two share a March birthday.
Ava graduated last year from The Covenant School, a K-12 Christian private school in Dallas, where she played soccer and ran track.
Her mom helped her moved into her living quartes at SMU last fall, posting photos of Ava’s pretty pink-and-white room.
“Today, I left a piece of my heart at SMU,” Tavia wrote of the daughter she affectionately calls “Bitty.”
“Ava Hunt, you’ve always been a mix of sunshine and hurricane — fierce, fearless, and capable of incredible things. I’m overflowing with excitement for you, even as I tuck away my tears for later.
“I’m wading through emotions as I pass by your now too-clean room, the house is too quiet without your laughter, and Chief and I are already missing the familiar scent of your Sol de Janeiro body spray.”
Like her mother and sister, Ava quotes the Bible in her social media posts.
When the Chiefs lost the Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in February 2021, Ava wrote to her Instagram followers that “sometimes life doesn’t work out the way you hope and pray. But God is still good when He doesn’t answer your prayers.”
She currently references Acts 20:24 in her Instagram bio: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
She also lists another Instagram account — @avasadventuring — and the Instagram for YWAM in Kona, located on the largest of the Hawaiian islands.
Some Chiefs fans wondered why they hadn’t seen photos of Ava this school year in her SMU cheerleading uniform. She’s been at most of the Chiefs’ games instead.
“My heart is full of pride and joy for her — yet this transition stretches me,” Tavia wrote. “Letting go is never easy, but it is the very act of motherhood: raising the ones you love, admire, and even lean on, only to release them into the world to follow His call.
“Raising children has been my greatest gift and blessing. Watching them grow into not only remarkable young adults but also my dearest friends is a joy that breaks and heals my heart all at once. And now, releasing them to God’s greater purpose is the holy privilege of a mother’s love.”
“So proud of you, Aves,” she concluded. “Go where He leads. God be with you.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 2:39 PM.