Courtesy of Wayne State Athletic Communications
DETROIT – The Wayne State University athletic department and its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) have won the inaugural GLIAC SAAC Community Championship, league headquarters announced.
Beginning in 2023-24, the GLIAC SAAC conducted a year-long community service/charity fundraiser, culminating with this year-end award for Wayne State, the school with the most points per capita. Points are awarded as follows: one hour of community service organized by one or more student-athletes = one point and $10 in donations raised for charity by one or more student-athletes = one point. At the end of the year, each school divided the number of points earned by the number of student-athletes and the school with the highest average was named the winner. Campus SAAC advisors were responsible for tracking the number of community service hours and the amount of money raised.
Warrior student-athletes completed a total of 5,667 hours of community service during the 2023-24 academic year (over 6,000 hours if you include June and July) and raised nearly $1,100 in donations, earning a total of 5,774 points for an average score of 14.08 per student-athlete.
One of SAAC’s goals is to help student-athletes get involved in and give back to their local communities. Most athletic departments and student-athletes already perform some level of community service and fundraising, so this award is a way to recognize those who give back the most. Student-athletes respond positively to competition as a motivator, so this competition motivates student-athletes across the conference to continue and improve on their already exceptional achievements. This also provides schools and the conference another opportunity to highlight the civic engagement of GLIAC’s student-athletes, which will lead to increased fan support and help student-athletes enhance their experiences and resumes to prepare them for graduate school, work, and life after college.
“The Wayne State University athletic department places a lot of emphasis on volunteerism and giving back to the community, and I know many teams work really hard to put in a lot of hours of community service,” said Ella Uganski, co-president of the WSU SAAC and a senior on the volleyball team. “Here in Detroit, we have a great opportunity to have a lot of community involvement and reach out to a large number of people to work with and serve. We also have a lot of different events in Wayne where we can volunteer to rack up a large number of hours.”
