The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- August 16, 1999

Endzone -- Conference SAAC goes extra mile to clean up Wisconsin

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

While many conferences are still trying to launch a conference student-athlete advisory committee, the institutions of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) have already joined together to make a difference in their communities.

The WIAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has established community service as one of its primary objectives, and a few months ago, the WIAC SAAC sponsored a conference-wide community/campus clean-up week. Hundreds of student-athletes from each of the nine institutions within the WIAC participated in the various activities for the clean-up week.

"We have an extremely active and dedicated group of student-athletes serving on the conference SAAC," said WIAC Commissioner Gary Karner. "They viewed the sponsorship of the clean-up week as a way of involving the entire conference in a concerted effort to give back to our campuses and communities and to further enhance the image of WIAC student-athletes."

The institutions in WIAC are: the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire; the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse; the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh; the University of Wisconsin, Platteville; the University of Wisconsin, River Falls; the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point; the University of Wisconsin, Stout; the University of Wisconsin, Superior; and the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

Every school in the conference participated, and each campus-level SAAC was responsible for selecting the specific nature of their activities and for coordinating and scheduling the necessary work groups.

Student-athletes cleaned up parks, road ditches, vacant lots, creek beds and bike trails.

Some SAACs even managed to get their local businesses to donate food

and materials to facilitate the clean-up activities, and a few campuses scheduled cookouts and other social events in conjunction with their clean-up efforts.

Some institutions participated in teams that corresponded with their athletics team affiliation, while other institutions took advantage of the opportunity to help more student-athletes get to know each other.

"They all went about it in different ways, but everyone reported that it was a positive experience," Karner said.

"The Community Clean-Up was a rather unexpected success at Wisconsin-Eau Claire," said Kim Arndt, president of the SAAC at the university. "We were unsure of how many athletes would attend, but we were pleasantly surprised when more than half of the student-athletes came to clean up the college neighborhood. This is an event Wisconsin-Eau Claire's SAAC is already committed to continuing in the future."

Wisconsin-Platteville had 150 student-athletes participate in its clean-up efforts, and each of the university's 13 sports contributed time to the project.

"We were able to work with the other teams," said Wisconsin-Platteville wrestler John Schimming. "Rather than just doing something with the wrestlers, we were able to intermingle with all the other athletes.

"It's amazing when you get a few of us together what we can accomplish," Schimming said. "I know the community really appreciated it. It showed the athletics department in a positive way. It showed that we are more than just athletes on the courts, fields, tracks and mats."

The WIAC's Karner hopes that other conferences will follow suit and plan activities that help their communities.

"Since the WIAC has empowered its student-athlete advisory committee with the same authority and responsibility assumed by other sport committees within the conference's governance structure, it came as no great surprise that they would choose to initiate an activity such as this," he said.

"The level of student-athlete participation on each campus was so great, and the reaction from the campuses and surrounding communities so positive, the WIAC SAAC has already decided to sponsor a similar clean-up week for next year."