EMU Student-Athletes Continue to Give Back

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — During the 2018-19 academic year, all 18 EMU teams continued the tradition of working closely with the campus and local community. In total, EMU Athletics completed more than 6,000 volunteer hours for the third straight year, with a grand total of 6,700 hours logged for the 2018-19 academic year.

• EMU SAAC teamed up with Kleats 4 Kids to collect gently used or new athletic shoes to donate to the local community for the fourth consecutive year. Kleats 4 Kids strives to help underprivileged kids acquire the necessary footwear needed to play sports. From December through February, EMU Athletics collected footwear donations at home athletics events and the members of SAAC worked together to clean-up the footwear, before making the donation of shoes to the Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL). The Detroit PAL is an organization dedicated to building character in young people through athletic, academic and leadership development programs, impacting roughly 12,000 youth annually.

• EMU student-athletes participated in the 2nd and 7 Foundation's Tackle Illiteracy program for the fifth straight year. A total of 300 student-athletes, representing all 18 varsity teams, visited 15 second-grade classrooms throughout Ypsilanti, reading to the children, handing out books and reminding students about the importance of reading.

• The EMU football team held its sixth annual EMU Victory Day, May 23, as the Eagles hosted more than 200 cognitively and physically impaired children. Student-athletes, as well as the coaching staff, took part in an exciting event of football related activities at EMU's Rynearson Stadium.

• EMU gymnastics and women's basketball continued their partnerships with Team IMPACT and their honorary signees. Through Team IMPACT, a nonprofit based in Boston whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses through the power of team, both teams welcomed their teammate to their practices, games and events.

• Multiple teams participated in the second annual Martin Luther King Jr. march on campus as well as serving as volunteers at the annual MLK dinner that brings together over 500 campus and community members

• The athletics department donated over 100 t-shirts to the EMU Vision program. Vision is a program that partners EMU students with local elementary (Estabrook) children to be pen pals throughout the year.

• The football, women's golf, and women's rowing teams took their community service efforts on the road. While at the Raycom Media Camellia bowl, the football team visited an elementary school to read and play games with the youth as well as spent time at Meals on Wheels in Montgomery, AL providing healthy meals to area citizens. For spring break, women's golf provided golf lessons in Phoenix through the First Tee Foundation and women's rowing worked at both Alabama Boathouse cleaning and restoring boats, as well as at Jeremiah's Garden, a community garden project with a mission to feed the poor in and around the Tuscaloosa community.

• Abbie Stemple (WXC) was one of only three hundred student-athletes (Divisions I, II and III) selected nationwide to participate in the 2019 NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum.

• Baylee Kinkade (WROW), Natalie Cizmas (WXC) and Breck Turner (MFB) were honored as selections for the NCAA Career in Sports Forum. The Career in Sports Forum, an annual forum hosted by the NCAA, brings together 200 student-athletes to learn and explore potential careers in sports.

• EMU SAAC encouraged and promoted Diversity and Inclusion week on campus by planning activities to engage students during the week-long initiative. Additionally, during Mental Health Awareness week, two of our SAAC members and several of our staff attended the Mental Health Summit in Cleveland, Ohio.

• EMU SAAC coordinated with Mott Children's Hospital to have multiple teams visit with children receiving care at the facility. The student-athletes spent time reading and visiting with kids.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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