Megan Reed, Campus Carrier News Editor
On April 29 student athletes will be honored for their achievements and contributions in sports, academics and community service at the first annual Student-Athlete Awards Banquet.
The awards have been coordinated by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which is a group of student representatives from Berry’s athletic teams.
Senior Kyle Fitting, who is chair of the SAAC and plays on the men’s soccer team, said awards given will include male and female Student-Athlete of the Year, a “Be Berry” award for an athlete who “embodies Berry’s values through athletics,” a Scholar-Athlete honor, a “Newcomer” honor for a first-year athlete and the Inspiration award “for someone who has a positive attitude and has persevered through some sort of hard time.”
Fitting said the SAAC wanted to find a way for students “to come together as a large group of athletes and recognize achievements of the seniors and other outstanding performances within the athletics community.”
Sophomore Kaleigh Carpenter, who is on the SAAC and plays for the women’s tennis team, said the event will not only focus on athletic contributions but on students’ active participation in student life at Berry.
“They’ll really highlight students who have gone above and beyond, not just in athletics, but have really given back to the Berry community and the Rome community,” Carpenter said.
Individual teams have separate banquets where team members are honored, but this awards ceremony will honor athletes from all of Berry’s athletic teams.
Director of athletics Tom Hart said he hopes the event will be a venue for athletes “to tell some really neat stories” about challenges they may have faced, bonding moments as a team and their overall experiences throughout the season.
The ceremony will also serve as a celebration of seniors’ achievements.
“Another goal is to wish our seniors well,” Hart said. “They have represented Berry for four years in many cases, and we just want that opportunity to say thank you.”
Athletes’ community service projects will also be celebrated at the event. Most student-athletes have volunteered both on and off-campus this year, many with the student organization Athletes Bettering the Community. Several teams have also completed service projects together in order to make a positive impact in the Rome community while bonding as a team.
Some projects included the softball team’s Pink Day fundraiser for the Festival of Life and American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, baseball players and cheerleaders volunteering with a reading program at Mount Berry Square Mall and bell ringing for the Salvation Army, Hart said. Berry athletes also partner with education majors to visit local schools in Rome to read to classes as part of the SCORE program.
All faculty, staff and students were able to nominate student-athletes for these honors.