CLEVELAND, Ohio – A pair of Mid-American Conference institutions, Miami University and Western Michigan University, were named a top-five finalist for NACDA’s 2025 Fiesta Bowl Community Service Award this week.
The award recognizes and honors an exceptional athletics department who makes volunteerism and community service a way of life. The winning institution will be one who exemplifies the best in volunteering and demonstrates a responsibility for helping others, thus connecting citizens and addressing community issues. Additionally, the award winner will be a department who makes selfless and extraordinary contributions beyond what is expected of them for the betterment of the local community and beyond. This award is not for a single student-athlete or team, but the overall athletics department.
Miami University student-athletes, coaches and staff invested 5,800 total hours in the community this year. The RedHawks partnered with five Team IMPACT families across four sports, helping children with lifelong and terminal diagnoses connect with Miami teams. The Red and White assisted Habitat for Humanity in building two homes in Oxford for deserving families. Miami Athletics also delivered and read over 600 books to local elementary-schoolers as part of the Reading with the RedHawks initiative. Miami student-athletes partnered with Butler County Metro Parks for clearing paths on local walking trails and worked with RASKALS to assist local seniors in completing home chores like raking leaves and cleaning gutters.
Miami's annual Love.Honor.Care basketball event raised more than $20,000 for cancer awareness and research benefiting Ride Cincinnati in February, while Miami Football brought in over $11,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as part of its Light the Night campaign. And during the holiday season, the RedHawks raised money for, purchased, collected, wrapped and delivered over 200 Christmas and Hanukkah gifts to Cincinnati Children's Hospital, including items from the popular hockey 'Teddy Bear Toss' event.
Western Michigan Athletics ranked fifth in the nation and No. 1 in the Mid-American Conference. The Bronco student-athletes had 100 percent participation and attended 129 community service events, supporting 61 organization. Combined, WMU student-athletes racked up 6,699 community service hours.
The WMU softball team was ranked No. 1 in its sport for service hours, while track and field and cross country, along with the Bronco Golf team were ranked second in their sports. The golf team also ranked fifth overall nationally among all women's sports.
Western Michigan's volleyball team was ranked third in the sport, the National Championship Bronco Hockey team was fourth. Men's Basketball ranked sixth, while gymnastics was seventh in its sport. Women's basketball ranked eighth, while the men's soccer team was ninth and followed by the men's tennis team in 10th.
NACDA will announce the top three finalists from a group of Arizona, Boston College, California, Miami University and Western Michigan on Friday, June 6. The winner of the 2024-25 Community Service Award will be revealed on Tuesday, June 10. NACDA and its award sponsor, the Fiesta Bowl, will be awarding a trophy to the winning institution in an on-campus presentation during the fall of 2025.
