Hello,
We are Hadley DesMeules, Maddy Holker, and Eric Davis and we would like to introduce ourselves and share a little about what we, as the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) presidents, have been working on this fall and have planned for the 2015-2016 academic year. Hadley is a senior Anthropology major on the Women’s Ice Hockey team from North Pomfret, Vermont, Maddy is a senior Psychology major on the Women’s Swim Team from Edina, Minnesota, and Eric is a junior Economics major on the Football team from Princeton Junction, New Jersey. SAAC functions as a liaison between student-athletes and the athletic department. We work with an Executive Board composed of four other student-athletes and Jennifer Chuks, our faculty advisor from the Athletic Department, as well as representatives from all varsity sports, and together we address the roles of student-athletes both off and on campus.
Last year, SAAC was headed by Andrée Heller and Ryan Barry, and under their leadership the committee tackled a variety of matters including sexual assault prevention, breast cancer awareness, and community outreach. Ryan is currently serving on the national SAAC committee as a representative for the NESCAC and Little East conferences. Last spring was groundbreaking for SAAC: we unveiled our student-athlete pledge to combat sexual assault outside of the Paresky Center, and we hosted an intercollegiate conference titled Winning On and Off The Field: Athletics as a Holistic Enterprise. The Sexual Assault Campaign and the Intercollegiate Conference are two events that caught the attention of both NESCAC SAAC and NCAA Division III, garnering great publicity for the College and its athletics program.
This year, we intend to build from last year’s successes to have an even greater impact on our community. The discussion on how to move forward with our pledge against sexual assault has already begun and together with other campus leaders, SAAC plans to keep the spotlight on sexual assault awareness and prevention. We hope that by using sports teams as channels through which to raise awareness and offer strategies for recognizing and preventing instances of sexual assault, we can affect change and contribute to the school’s existing sexual assault prevention programs.
Regarding our impact beyond the Williams campus, we are bringing back the 32 For 32 campaign, which in past years presented a goal: to get all 32 varsity teams involved in community service projects. Most of our teams have remained engaged in annual if not weekly community service projects of all kinds, and we plan to encourage more participation and highlight the work our student-athletes are doing in the Purple Valley and beyond. Additionally, we will be increasing the frequency of our “Kids Night Out” events, during which student-athletes volunteer their time to hang out and play games with kids from the community while parents enjoy a night to themselves. From hosting Team Impact players and mentoring local middle and high school students, to working at the Youth Center and organizing fundraising and awareness campaigns, our teams’ community involvement extends far across our community. With so many projects on the horizon, we’re excited for the year and look forward to sharing more of SAAC’s plans and goals over the course of the 2015-2016 academic year.
Best,
Hadley, Maddy, and Eric