On April 14, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) held its final meeting of the spring semester. The SAAC members met to review their accomplishments this year and to discuss future plans for board positions and events. This year has marked some of the first major accomplishments in the committee’s three-year history. During the spring semester, the committee held two charity events in effort to raise money for the Guilford community. These two events involved “shootouts” on Dean for Campus Life Aaron Fetrow and Vice President for Enrollment and Campus Life Randy Doss at half time during women’s lacrosse games. For $1, students had the opportunity to shoot against Doss and Fetrow in goal.

The proceeds went to Max Carter, who donated them to the Carolina Friends Disaster Service (CFDS). The CFDS provides Guilford students with the opportunity to go on community service work trips during fall and spring breaks.

Women’s soccer representative Emilie Grant believes that the charity events were an excellent way to unite students at Guilford. “These events were crucial because they brought the community together, not only the athletes but the non athletes as well,” Grant said.

The SAAC crafted a dodgeball event that was held at half times during men’s and women’s basketball games. The increase in audience attendance was directly correlated with the dodgeball event schedule, “The average attendance at a women’s basketball game this year was under 100,” said Doug McConnell, President of SAAC. “When we had dodgeball at the games, the attendance was double what it normally was.”

McConnell continued, “this also benefited the team because there were more people there to support them.”

The SAAC hosted a gathering in Alumni gym for the NCAA Tournament opening night. A projector was set up, and food was catered by Sodhexo. This provided a chance for students to watch the game together.

Charlie Stroup, the football team’s representative on the committee, established a partnership with Jefferson Elementary School in Greensboro. This is available to any athlete looking to go into education and offers them a chance to work with the physical education classes and gain valuable hands-on experiences with children.

T-shirt days are an effort established by the SAAC to promote athlete and non-athlete participation in home competitions, both to help boost team morale and to psyche out the opposing team. T-shirt days help unify the Guilford Athletic department and Guilford community, attracting more participants by giving out free t-shirts. Participants are encouraged to wear the t-shirts during the game in an attempt to create a unified, vocal, and color-coordinated crowd that can give Guilford’s athletic teams the extra edge they need in a close and intensely competitive game.

The SAAC, promoting unity among the athletic teams, created the Student-Athlete of the Week Award. “Student-Athlete of the Week was started as a way to recognize one Guilford athlete who might not get the recognition of ODAC Player of the Week,” McConnell said. “The members of the award panel are Sports Information Director Dave Walters, Athletic Director Marion Kirby, and NCAA faculty representative Rex Adelberger.” The panel evaluates athletes based on their contributions to their respective teams.

McConnell stated that the Student-Athlete of the Week Award is also another means to promote the sports and athletes. Walters puts out an official press release every Tuesday to congratulate the winner of the Student-Athlete of the Week Award.

There were 15 members of the committee this year, including McConnell and Vice President Susan King. Vice President for Enrollment and Campus Life, Randy Doss and Senior Women’s Administrator Stephanie Flamini oversee the meetings and facilitate the operations of the committee.

Next year, several new members will join the committee to replace those who are graduating. King, the women’s lacrosse representative on the committee, will move from her current position as Vice President to President this fall. Jeremy Bante, the current men’s cross country representative, will take Susan’s current position as Vice President.