Week of October 26th – 30th, 2020
Institution: Northern Illinois University
Sport Program: Women’s Volleyball
- Developed a “Paws to the Polls” slogan for social media and electronic content that was adopted by several other university entities including the NIU Athletic Department.
- The “Paws to the Polls” movement helped not only the Volleyball team but several other groups on campus to reach 100% of their members get registered to vote.
- Partnered with Adidas to develop three different practice shirts displaying messages of social impact, one of them being “Vote.”
- Provided information on multiple platforms about ways to register, to vote, and to vote from afar.
- Consistently promoting the act of exercising your right to bring excitement and awareness to the 2020 election.
The 2020-21 Give Back Leadership Awards will be awarded each week to the Mid-American Conference institution, sport program, or student-athlete that has demonstrated excellence in service and citizenship that week. The three awards will be awarded on a rotating weekly basis, outlined below, and are intended to highlight the activities of MAC members in local communities. Award nominations should highlight the contributions that the institution, sport program, or student-athlete made to the broader community. The winners are selected by a representative of the MAC's Faculty Athletics Representatives (FARs).
Other Nominees
Institution: Bowling Green State University
Sport Program: Women’s Golf
I would like to nominate the Bowling Green State University Women’s Golf team for this week’s Give Back Leadership Award. The women’s golf team has always been a leader when it comes to community service. The past three weeks the women’s golf team have increased their total of community service to 61 hours! That is equivalent to a $1,512 economic impact for our Bowling Green community. In October alone, they have completed 47 hours. Attached you can find a picture of the ladies raking leaves around town yesterday for BGSU faculty and staff. Other activities from the last three weeks include:
- Visited the local Humane Society. While they were there, they make dog toys.
- Creating encouraging posters for the residents at Brookdale Senior Living.
- Workout Buddies for the local elementary kids. Created a video of fun exercises to do during virtual classroom breaks.
Institution: University at Buffalo
Sport Program: Women’s Basketball, Women’s XC
In the week of October 12-19 Women’s Basketball, and Women’s XC organized a mask making initiative to donate hand-made masks to Conners Children’s Center in Buffalo, NY. Conners Children’s Center is a non-profit organization that provides individualized intensive treatment for boys and girls that are unable to remain in their own homes due to their behavioral and emotional needs. Conners Children’s Center expressed a need for masks because of the normal wear and tear of their own masks and inability to continuously purchase new masks. Each team spent several hours hand-making masks by cutting out various sized fabrics and elastic and sewing the materials together with the help of an instructional video. The materials were safely hand delivered to teammates by team captains Hannah Seiders and Adebola Adeyeye, picked up, and delivered to Conners Children’s Center. Conners Children’s Center have been strong supporters of Buffalo athletics. Women’s Basketball and Women’s XC organized this opportunity to give back to them and fulfill their need in these unique circumstances. This project will continue until 50 total masks are made this semester!
Institution: Central Michigan University
Sport Program: Women’s Lacrosse
The Central Michigan University Women's Lacrosse program looks to provide their student-athletes with an environment that is conducive to building their confidence as leaders. Regardless of their age, they are expected to be leaders on the field, in the classroom, and in the community. The Women's Lacrosse program does not have designated captains, each week the team votes for gameday representation based on personal interpretation of what a leader means to their teammates. Our Women's Lacrosse program engages in leadership development and education through team readings, podcasts, and gameday visualization methods. The team is cmTently reading the following:
- It Takes What It Takes by Trevor Moawad
- Keep Chopping Wood by Kevin Deshazo
The Women's Lacrosse program's goal is for each student-athlete is to find their own unique way to lead in every aspect of their personal and professional lives. They are very active in the community serving in several areas:
- At least 30 hours collected at Rise Advocacy Group: Recovery, Independence, Safety, and Empowerment. An organization that provides services for survivors of both domestic violence and sexual assault.
- Minimum of 15 hours completed at McLaren Hospital.
- Volunteered through CMU's Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) to help at Poppas Pumpkin Patch.
- Participating in Sock Drive for Isabella County. Previously donated over 200 pairs, now aiming to collect over 300 pairs of socks
Institution: Kent State University
Sport Program: Wrestling
The Kent State wrestling team demonstrated excellence in service and citizenship the last three weeks when they stepped up to fill in when other team weren’t able to. We had our week 3 falling for service lined up with helping the elderly in the community with fall yard clean up. We had 9 local elderly homes needing their leaves done. When no other teams stepped forward wrestling did. They spent their Saturday bundled up raking and blowing leaves for the local. Many of the elderly were retired professors from the university, so the athletes were able to see the joy on their faces as they sat and watched through their windows.
