Sports may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the Savannah College of Art and Design. However, the school’s athletics department is building a respectable reputation on the playing fields.
SCAD was recently named a 2012 Champion of Character Five-Star institution by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for its commitment to academics and the program’s five core values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.
It’s the second consecutive year the school has received the honor, according to SCAD.
Women’s golf coach Amanda Workman said SCAD student-athletes are expected to embody the five core values daily, both on and off the field of play.
The women’s golf team — currently ranked No. 2 in the NAIA women’s golf coaches’ preseason poll — volunteered this year at the West Broad Street YMCA, Humane Society of Greater Savannah and First Tee of Savannah.
First Tee of Savannah, a nonprofit that teaches life lessons to youth through golf, is especially close to the team’s heart.
“I love working with kids,” said 23-year-old Becky Tetrick, who also runs a youth golf clinic in her hometown of Kingman, Kan.
“I wanted the whole team to experience that together and know what it’s like to touch the kids’ lives and see the look on their faces once they do something good.”
Up to 100 total points are earned in the NAIA’s Champion of Character program for exhibiting the five core values. All institutions scoring 60 or more total points are named Five Star Champions of Character institutions for the academic year.
For its part in earning the award, the SCAD men’s lacrosse team hosted the sixth annual SCADLAX/Coastal Empire Holiday Play Day and Toy Drive earlier this month for more than 30 youth who learned golf techniques. In return, participants donated three dozen toys to Union Mission.
In October, the school’s men’s lacrosse and women's soccer teams formed a 50-member cheerleading squad to encourage children and their families participating in this year’s seventh annual Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome awareness at Forsyth Park.
Last spring, the men’s and women’s swimming teams launched a new community service initiative to teach Bethesda Academy students how to swim, giving four hours of their time in each session. They plan to continue the program next spring.
“Lots of the young men did not know how to swim and were very apprehensive at first,” said swimmer Heather Librizzi. “But after just a few minutes and the support of each other, they were eager to learn to swim.”
In 2013, SCAD’s top 25 ranked men’s and women’s cross country teams are planning to volunteer at the Critz Tybee Run Fest and Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure.
Golf player Alexa Osbourn, 21, of Overland Park, Kan., said earning the Champion of Character award is a point of pride at SCAD.
“I don't think there’s a better school that could receive it,” she said.
“I have many friends that are athletes. I think every person that I’ve met in the athletics program does embody the Champion of Character and I’m just so thrilled that we're a part of that.”