Story By: Bailey Ketcham
SAAC: Student Athlete Advisory Committee
At Missouri Western, Griffon athletes go beyond the expectations of a regular student-athlete, and choose to give their time by helping out the community of St. Joseph.
The group in charge of the volunteering is the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, which is led by Natasha Oaks, associate director of athletics, and, Signe Coombs, the director of academic services-athletics.
SAAC is designed to create a voice for student-athletes on campus and give them opportunities to talk about certain issues that are facing athletes. It’s also an opportunity to provide leadership and allow students from each team to be a leader and spokesperson. Each team has two representatives to be the voice for their team. They meet every week to go over issues and discuss planning for charity events and volunteering.
So far this school year, SAAC has planned several events and volunteering opportunities for Griffon athletes that have had a strong, positive impact on the community. They include Griffs Giving Gifts, Night Out with the Griffs, kickball, dodgeball, Noyes home, Choices, Habitat for Humanity and many more.
“When we do Griffs Giving Gifts, it’s my favorite time of the year, because our students give their own time and money to give to people that are less fortunate,” Oaks said. “They are giving gifts to people that never expected to get anything, and people are seeing dinner when they didn’t think they were going to be able to eat during the holidays.”
A couple of students that are extremely involved in the community service aspect of SAAC is senior Sydney Andrews, the community service rep, and senior Jordan Chohon, the SAAC President. They are the ones that organize and come up with the ideas for events to raise money for charities and volunteering. Andrews was the one that presented SAAC the opportunity to partner up with the Noyes home for children, where a different team goes to the Noyes home every month to play with the kids that live or go there.
“The Noyes home is my favorite thing to be apart of, because kids all deserve a little love, and, if I get to be apart of that, it makes me happy,” Andrews said. “I love the chance to be able to give back, because I’ve gotten so much in my life, it reminds me of how lucky we all are.”
Another program that is very popular for the women’s sports is the Choices program, which involves mentoring girls in middle school, and helping lead them in the right direction. Oaks stated that the University’s mission is to benefit people in the local community, and, because Griffon athletes are seen as role models in the community, the more they are able to help children or other causes in need means the more willing the community is to come out and support Griffon athletics when they are in need.
“The best part about volunteering is seeing the reactions from little kids and seeing how happy parents get when you bring them gifts, like we did for Griffs Giving Gifts,” Chohon said. “It’s important to keep volunteering because the community supports us and the community is where we get our founding from. So, we need to give back to them to show our appreciation.”
By getting involved in charity events and volunteering, the St. Joseph community is able to see a different side of the athletes when they reach and offer their time and money to better the community. According to Andrews, it’s important to be reminded of how lucky the athletes are on campus, and it’s a good lesson to be selfless and that it’s not all about you.
“The more we do, the more we bond with the community, and give them a chance to believe in us, because we believe in them,” Andrews said.