St. GEORGE, UT – For its student-athletes’ commitment to outstanding service in the St. George community, Dixie State College of Utah has been named the 2009 Pacific West Conference Community Engagement Award winner.
The annual award is sponsored by New City Nissan and marks the second year the honor has been presented by the conference. Chaminade University of Honolulu won the inaugural award last year.
“The outstanding community effort of the Dixie State athletic teams and the great passion in which they have accomplished their tasks was duly noted by the voting panel,” Bob Hogue, the commissioner of the PacWest, said, as he presented the award Friday on the Dixie State campus in St. George, UT, to Red Storm women’s basketball player and SAAC member Tanya Clark.
The PacWest Community Engagement Award was selected after review of nominations from around the conference by an independent panel of voters from California, Hawaii, Utah and Arizona and honors outstanding community service and projects performed by the institution’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
The Red Storm athletic teams performed numerous hours of community service, including a fundraising dodge ball tournament entitled Go Travyn! that benefited a six-month old baby who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Held on March 27, the event raised more than $500 that was donated to cover the family’s medical costs.
Angie Kristensen, the head women’s basketball coach and SAAC advisor, has been a driving force for the Dixie program, keeping the student-athletes focused and then turning them loose to do their projects.
“While on a road trip to the Midwest,” Kristensen explained, “the women’s basketball team went to an inner city school in north Omaha to read and do crafts with the children. My assistant coach Lanay Larson has a sister who is a third-grade teacher in the school. The principal wanted us to talk to them about doing the right thing and making good choices in life.”
Other projects performed by Dixie State student-athletes included:
- Cleaning up schools in Washington County – Student-athletes split up among three different sites - East Elementary, Washington and Hurricane. “We picked up all the trash, replaced the basketball nets, repainted maps, basketball courts and four square courts. We ran out of paint and had to finish up another day,” Christensen said.
- Reading to Heritage Elementary and Washington Elementary students – Student-athletes were split up between the two schools. Each class had selected books they wanted the athletes to read. After the reading was done, the students had a chance to ask the athletes questions about their sport or Dixie State College.
- Dixie Care and Share - The student-athletes collected food in the community for the local chapter. Dixie Care and Share provides food for families who may not be able to support themselves. Two truck loads of food were delivered.
- Trunk or Treat - The event took place Thursday, Oct. 30, from 6-8 p.m., at a number of DSC athletic complexes, including Hansen Stadium, Burns Arena, Bruce Hurst Field, Cooper Diamonds, the Old Gym and the DSC Tennis Courts. All the student-athletes dressed up and handed out candy from the trunks of their vehicles that were parked in the lots in the sports complexes. This provided an alternative plan for families rather than going door to door with their children. “This was probably our best project of the year and it was a huge success in the community,” Kristensen said.
- Christmas Cheer – “Target and SAAC teamed up to provide to families who were in need during the holidays,” Kristensen explained. “Each athlete also provided donations as well to make it an even better Christmas. We were provided names and ages of children from a local church. Then the shopping began. We headed to Target, which donated $500 to the cause, and bought tons of stuff for the children. With the money the student-athletes donated, we went to Wal-Mart and bought a ton of food. A few athletes had the opportunity to go along with me to drop off the presents – many tears were shed and they couldn’t thank us enough because they weren’t able to give their children the holiday they deserved.”
- While in Hawaii, the women’s basketball team split up between two different homeless shelters and helped feed the people at 7 a.m.
- On Jan. 28 and 29, members of the SAAC and the Community Engagement Class volunteered their time at the Cliff View Assisted Living and Memory Care Center. Time was spent playing board games, card games, talking, and even playing Nintendo.
- PINK ZONE - Even though this is a women’s basketball event, all the athletes became involved. The event raised more than $1,000 for the local American Cancer Association.
- Special Olympics - Members of SAAC teamed up with the Special Olympics on March 5 to help out with the organization’s bowling day.
- Special Needs Mutual – Dixie State student-athletes at a church and played basketball and volleyball with special needs kids. They meet with everyone once a week. The program was set up by one of the Red Storm’s men’s basketball players.
- Throughout the year, all of the athletic teams collected toiletries from their hotels that they didn’t use. We took them to the homeless shelters in St. George and Las Vegas.
- MAKE-A-WISH - Contributed money collected at men’s and women’s home basketball games toward the conference goal of granting a wish.
--PacWest--