Each May, as friends and family members visit USC’s campus in support of another accomplished graduating class, the Trojan Athletic Parents Association (TAPA) honors an athlete who brings a special sense of pride to the commencement ceremony. The TAPA Community Service Award recognizes an athlete who’s extra-curricular involvement has shaped an impressive career. But often, this volunteer work extends beyond the four years of athletic eligibility to a lifetime of service.

This year, Jackie Dion of Track & Field garnered the honor for her tireless dedication to the local community. A consistent volunteer at the TAPA Community Bowl, a Day in Troy, and a range of other outreach activities, Dion embraced the opportunity to give back.

“USC has given so much to me, so it was important to me to give back to our community,” said Dion, who graduated with honors and as a Pac-12 All-Academic Team member. “Service helped me grow as a person, because I now realize how much of an impact just one individual can have in the community.”

As a runner with impressive bests at the 400 and 800 meter distances, Dion has become accustom to evaluation based on time. But her zeal for service cannot be expressed by the clock alone, though her more than 20 volunteer hours each season wouldn’t fail to impress.

Dion dedicated her studies to helping others as well. A Gerontology major, she plans to begin a career aiding the elderly after volunteer experience at Meals-on-Wheels and similar organizations.

“Before coming to USC, I had no idea that one person could make such a big difference,” said Dion. “Fortunately, this school provided me with the opportunities to help others and grow from those experiences.”

A Southern California native, Dion experienced a unique connection with neighborhood residents. When looking back on her experiences, her involvement with the mentor-based Girls PLAY program stands out.

“Girls PLAY made me realize that the kids in neighboring communities really look up to Trojan athletes and hope to be like them one day,” said Dion. “I was proud to be able to represent USC in that way and hopefully inspire the youth to pursue higher education.”

As she hangs up the track spikes, Dion plans to continue her service. This summer, she will work for a website called Stitch which aides older adults as they combat loneliness. Next semester, she will pursue a Masters in Aging Services Management at USC’s Davis School of Gerontology and focus in Gerontechnology, a field that uses today’s technology to help ease the aging process.

TAPA is proud to honor an athlete whose community work will not end with her last race, but carry on to greater distances as she enters the world.

Source: http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/comm-outreach/spec-rel/062014aab.html

In late May, Long Island Lutheran, located in Brookville, was honored at its annual Spring Sports Awards by Team Up 4 Community, an international community giveback project of the W20 Foundation that was formed by former Islander Steve Webb in 2007. The Foundation focuses on building character among athletes through the promotion and collaboration of community service and social responsibility.

Throughout the school year, LuHi students and student athletes have participated in a large variety of service projects including; Habitat for Humanity Builds, Toys for Tots collections, putting together Thanksgiving baskets, and our LuHi Meal Packing Event for which we were honored. On hand for the $1500 check presentation was Steve and Theresa Webb, founder and director of Team Up 4 Community and Jim Flaherty and Marialice Dunphy, NBTY Helping Hands, Vice President and Director.

Mr. Webb took time to address student athletes and their families gathered for the awards ceremony to reinforce the importance of giving back to one’s community and congratulated the school for their second place finish in the Foundation’s Spring into Action Challenge.
This is the fourth year LuHi has hosted its Meal Packing Event and we were pleased to pack 316,224 meals. The completed meal packets were then distributed to Island Harvest, the Freeport Emergency Food Pantry, New Ground and other local food pantries in need. Additional meal packets were being shipped to the Andrew Grene School outside of Port au Prince, Haiti, an official feeding site that will prepare and serve the food to children in need.

See more @ http://www.syossetjerichotribune.com/2014/06/19/long-island-lutheran-honored-by-team-up-4-community-w20-foundation/

Former high school athletes are expected to display more leadership, self-confidence, and self-respect in the workplace than those who participated in other extracurricular activities, according to new Cornell University research published in the Journal of Leadership & Organization Studies. The findings also indicate that about 60 years later, former athletes are more likely to have volunteered their time and made donations than people who didn’t play a varsity sport in high school. “These findings are encouraging because they show evidence of long term, positive, personal and societal benefits of high school sports,” said lead-author Kevin Kniffin, PhD.

With his colleagues Brian Wansink, PhD, and Mitsuru Shimizu, PhD, Kniffin conducted two studies designed to explore the links between high school athletics and pro-social, community oriented behaviors. First they surveyed 66 employed adults to ask how much they agreed with statements about the character of those who played sports in high school as well as those who did other activities like the marching band or yearbook club. The findings showed that those surveyed believed that former high school athletes are expected to be more self-confident, self-respecting leaders.

The second study looked at a survey of 931 men who graduated high school about 60 years prior to taking the survey. These men answered questions about their professional successes and contributions to their communities. The researchers found that those who had played high school sports were more likely to volunteer their time and donate to organizations such as Girl Scouts, the United Way and the Red Cross.

These findings underscore the importance of maintaining high school sports programs. “What is particularly important to note about this research,” according to Dr. Kniffin “is that it shows that positive traits associated with playing sports can impact individuals and communities for decades!”

Article Summary by Katherine Baildon
Source: http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/op/sports_at_work

Also read more @ http://qz.com/223468/playing-high-school-sports-could-give-you-an-advantage-in-the-job-market/

NEW ORLEANS – With the summer upon the Tulane student-athletes, many have traded in their uniforms and equipment to lend a helping hand in the New Orleans community, as hundreds of Green Wave student-athletes have taken part in a variety of events during the first two Fridays of June.

Each Friday throughout the summer months, Tulane student-athletes, along with athletic department personnel, will venture out into the community that surrounds the Uptown campus.

On June 6, four different groups of student-athletes split up and performed a variety of duties at different locations across the city. Devin Powell (football), Paije Hall (women’s basketball), Jamie Kaplan (women’s basketball), Tyler Gilbert (football), Tre Drye (men’s basketball), Alex Van Cott (men’s tennis), Tim Yandel (baseball), Payton Henson (men’s basketball), Lauren Arnold (swimming and diving) and Justyn Shackleford (football and track and field) headed to the Tulane Cancer Center, where they brought smiles to the faces of many of the young patients being treated for illnesses. The group played games and chatted with the kids, while also passing out Tulane hats, sunglasses, wristbands and other memorabilia.

Another group spent time at the NFL Youth Education Town on South Broad Avenue. Fletcher Barnes, Eric Bowie, Glen Cuiellette, Andrew DiRocco , Raul Diaz , Lorenzo Doss , Braynon Edwards , Terren Encalade, Rene Fluery, Zachary Harris, Dontrell Hilliard, Devon Johnson, Charles Jones , Robert Kennedy, Donnie Lewis, Stephen Lofton, RaeJuan Marbley, Trey Scott, Daren Williams, Sean Wilson, Peter Woullard, Rob Kelley, Frank Thomas and Royce LaFrance of the Green Wave football squad joined men’s basketball players Louis Dabney, Kajon Mack, Malik Morgan, Cameron Reynolds, Ryan Smith and Keith Pinckney in speaking to over 150 children, dishing out advice on the importance of studying, exercising and staying in school. The group also spent some time doing drills with some of the children.

Across town, a large group of Green Wave football student-athletes in Eric Bell, Bob Bradley, Aaron Bryant, Quinlan Carroll, Sean Donnelly, Jarrod Franklin, Luke Jackson, Tanner Lee, John Leglue, Nico Marley, Calvin Thomas, Lazedrick Thompson, Arturo Uzdavinis, Fudge Van Hooser, Eldrick Washington and Sam Winston spent some time helping beautify the area around the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park. The contingent of footballers not only picked up trash, but pulled weeds in the gardens surrounding the area while also trimming overgrown bushes and trees.

The last group of Tulane student-athletes stayed on the Tulane campus, performing a variety of duties in the on-campus Aron Apartments. Amy Lanski (volleyball), Annie Shurtz (volleyball), Tamika Brazzel (track and field), Whitney Bibbins (women’s basketball), Tiffany Dale (women’s basketball), Chinwe Duru (women’s basketball), Sergio Medina (football), Tristan Cooper (football), Morgan Rogers (women’s basketball), Josh Hearlihy (men’s basketball), Eric Thomas (football) and Nathan Shienle (football) were under the command of Tulane maintenance crews, helping to repair and clean the apartments for the upcoming tenants.

The following Friday (June 13), more student-athletes took to the streets of New Orleans to volunteer their time in a variety of ways. Once again, a group of student-athletes in Sherman Badie (football), Tierra Jones (women’s basketball), Brent Comardelle (football), David Dubriel (football), Emerson Gibbs (football), Brandon Godfrey (football), Dontrell Hilliard (football), Richard Allen (football and track and field), Charles Jones (football), Robert Kennedy (football), Stephen Lofton (football), Tanzel Smart (football), Mel Mandelbaum (volleyball) and Adesuwa Ebomwonyi (women’s basketball) returned to the Avon Apartments to continue the work of their peers.

Additionally, Bell, Brazzel, Carroll, Diaz, Dirocco, Edwards, Encalade, Hall, Leglue and Thompson joined first-timer volunteers in Kedrick Banks (football), Silvai Garces (women’s golf), Nick Montana (football), Parry Nickerson (football), Emily Penttila (women’s golf), Dylan Richman (football), Trey Scott (football) and Jason Stewart (football) for the second-consecutive trip to the NFL YET facility by Green Wave student-athletes.

Some Green Wave student-athletes did participate in new events on June 13, as two different groups spent some time at facilities for those less fortunate.

Football stars Bryant, Donnelly, Franklin, Marley and Van Hooser joined forces with teammates Devon Breaux, Matt Marfisi and Kenneth Santa Marina at the Bridge/Grace House on Earhart Boulevard whose mission is to provide gender specific treatment to men and women who have become dependent on alcohol or drugs so that they may lead sober and productive lives. The group of student-athletes washed cars, which are donated to the facility and then sold to raise funds for the facility. The football players also prepared meals for those who are currently at the facility.

While the football players were at the Bridge/Grace House, a wide variety of student-athletes – including Arnold, Barnes, Bowie, Cuiellette, Doss, Edwards, LaFrance, Johnson, Lewis, Medina, Rogers, Thomas, Shienle, Sydie London (football), Daliadiz Ortiz (track and field), Xavier Rush (football) and Nicky Stracar (women’s tennis) – spent their Friday afternoon at the Covenant House on North Rampart Street. The Covenant House is a 24-hour facility that provides a safe haven for homeless and at-risk youth. Many of the male student-athletes took part in cleaning and repairing some of the stairwells at the facility in addition to unloading water from trucks for the youth staying at the facility. Many of the women student-athletes helped prepare meals in the kitchen during their time there.

“These organizations really appreciate the work our student-athletes are doing this summer,” said Charlotte Battiest, an academic counselor in the Academic Services Center for Student-Athletes and one of the spearheads of the community service work by the Green Wave student-athletes. “Community service is one of the cornerstones we build programming around and I am glad our Athletic Director Rick Dickson supports the Athlete Essentials 101 and 201 summer programming and community service outreach.”

– See more at: http://www.sportsnola.com/sports/tulane/609274-tulane-student-athletes-kickoff-summer-with-community-service-around-new-orleans.html#sthash.Rj53v7wf.dpuf

In his four years of high school, Malynn was a National Honor Society officer at West Ranch, a member of the California Scholastic Federation, was the founding captain at the school for Action Team — a national youth volunteer program, and a peer leader at Our lady of Perpetual Help Catholic church in Newhall.

Malynn hates to admit it, but the motivation to get active in the community was based on his own need and not that of others’.

“I’m not going to lie. My freshman year you sign up for programs like NHS, and I was going through confirmation, you have to fill out a certain number of hours of community service,” Malynn says. “At first it was filling boxes (on volunteer forms) and making numbers. But once I established that footing in community service I fell in love. My passion is getting people to fall in love with helping people in the community.”

He did that for his entire baseball team last September.

Being the leader of the Action Team, he wanted to link a volunteer effort with his baseball team.

Burrill agreed, but he told Malynn that his hands were full and that the student/athlete had to organize it and execute it.

The idea was to bring Santa Clarita Special Olympics athletes to West Ranch High and conduct a baseball clinic/game.

Malynn had volunteered for Special Olympics in the past, but he had another connection that motivated him.

His cousin Nick has Down syndrome.

Michelle says her son has always connected well with her nephew.

“When you’re growing up and in elementary school and junior high, there are the special education classes next door. People crack jokes (about the kids in the classes). You don’t understand it till you’re connected with someone with Down syndrome (or another special need),” Malynn says. “It’s like any other characteristic. Nick is one of my favorite people to be around. I just wanted to find an event for people to connect to and have relationships with people with special needs.”

Nearly 50 Special Olympians participated in the event, necessitating the use of the adjacent softball field.

Malynn’s lasting memory was of an Olympian named Spencer who slid into home plate on the hard, packed dirt. Spencer then cracked a giant smile.

“It was fantastic,” Burrill says of the event. “Honestly I was upset with myself that I hadn’t done it earlier. It took someone like Chase to show me. I’d never done this, and I’m 44. Honestly, I’m embarrassed.”

To read more please visit the source: http://www.signalscv.com/section/19/article/121868/