MADISON, Wis. — At 6-foot-3, Wisconsin football player Warren Herring is hard to miss. Add an extra foot in the form of a red and white striped hat and his presence is unmistakable.

Herring and six of his fellow Badgers clad in Dr. Suess hats made quite an impact at the first of more than 15 Read Across America Day celebrations that UW student-athletes will take part in over a two-week period.

Football player Austin Hudson, golfer Thomas O’Bryan, women’s rowers Stephanie Malchine and Kelsey Kramer and women’s tennis players Lauren Burich and Lauren Chypyha attended the first visit on Feb. 24 at Prairie View Elementary School, where they read books with students and engaged in other games promoting literacy.

“The kids were all so eager to read with us, whether it was a Dr. Seuss book or one of our Bucky books,” Chypyha said. “It was great to see how excited they all were.”

The visit to Prairie Elementary was just a warm-up, however, for the 10-school tour Badgers student-athletes will take part in on Monday — national Read Across America Day.

“Forty-five student-athletes from nine different sports are signed up to appear on Monday,” said Kayla Gross, UW Athletics Community Relations Coordinator. “Promoting literacy is important to them and they jumped at the chance to don the beloved Dr. Suess hats and visit local schools.”

The Badgers’ Read Across America Day efforts are part of the department’s larger effort to promote literacy. Many of the schools receiving visits are part of Badgers Give Back’s “Bookin’ It With Bucky” program, a program that pairs student-athletes with local fourth-grade classrooms to help achieve a set reading goal.

Through the program, the Badgers have become fixtures in 25 classrooms across Dane County.

“Student-athletes have been visiting schools through the Bookin’ It With Bucky program for more than 10 years,” Gross said. “This year we have reached a record number of schools and I really attribute that to our student-athletes. They are really committed to promoting literacy and are eager to get involved.”

Literacy efforts will also be a primary focus of the annual Wisconsin Football Spring Game, with all proceeds benefiting the UW School of Education and its ongoing efforts to promote literacy.

Fans can catch an early glimpse of Head Coach Gary Andersen’s 2014 Badgers while also providing support to the School of Education at the game, which is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, at Camp Randall Stadium. Tickets are on sale for $5 online at UWBadgers.com or by calling 1-800-GO-BADGERS. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Wisconsin Athletic Ticket Office.

Fans can follow along with the Badgers’ Read Across America Day effort on Twitter by following @UWBadgers and #BadgersGiveBack.

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Selden, N.Y. – For the fifth consecutive year, cheerleading and dance teams from East Coast Conference and other Long Island institutions joined together to perform in the ECC’s Spirit Showcase. The event, which raises proceeds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, raised over $3,500 for the foundation.

“Our Fifth Annual Spirit Showcase was our most successful yet,” said ECC Commissioner, Dr. Robert Dranoff. “The young men and women and their coaches truly have to be thanked and commended for taking the time to perform and raise money for Make-A-Wish. I am honored to be part of all the important service activities the ECC and our friends are involved in. There never seems to be a hesitation when it comes to giving back and making a difference.”
Each year the event is kicked off with a former wish recipient provided by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Suffolk County. This year’s speaker was MarissaAnn, 16, from Long Island.

MarissaAnn spoke about her own experience and gratitude with the Make-A-Wish foundation. At the age of five months old, she was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease. This fatal disease led to a liver transplant, with her father donating half of his liver. Because of this, she was granted her wish to go to Hawaii by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Now a singer/songwriter, MarissaAnn has been a contestant on the hit show, “The Voice,” and showed off her singing chops to the Spirit Showcase crowd with a stirring rendition of, “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Dranoff stated, “Thanks especially to MarissaAnn for speaking and singing for us and for her family coming by to support her. She is a talented, smart and confident young woman who already has, and will continue to do, great things. We are pleased she was able to be part of this important ECC event. And you could tell by the reaction of the crowd, they were happy to have her with us, too.”

After MarissaAnn spoke and sang, the cheerleaders and dancers took center stage with outstanding performances.

Although focused on participation from member institutions, the East Coast Conference opened the showcase up to local Metro New York squads. Performers included cheerleading squads from Adelphi, Bridgeport, LIU Post, Molloy, New York Institute of Technology, St. John’s, St. Thomas Aquinas as well as dance teams from Adelphi, LIU Post, Molloy, Queens, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Suffolk County Community College. The step team from Molloy also performed.

Through ticket sales, raffles, and concessions, the East Coast Conference raised over $3,500 to donate to the foundation. The event has now raised over $15,000 for Make-A-Wish in its five-year history.

Dranoff wraped up his statements by saying, “Finally, thanks go out to our member schools and also to Suffolk County Community College, St. John’s University, and Adelphi University for participating this year. And, as always, special thanks have to go to SCCC Cheer and Dance Coach, Gina Caputo, who has been part of this effort from the start five years ago. Gina helps make this a special day for all the teams, friends and family members who attend and also for those kids who do benefit from our Make-A-Wish work.

The students of Patchogue-Medford High School competed on Feb. 25 for a cause better than Olympic gold.?Rallying in support of a community member with cancer, 157 students participated as team members in a floor hockey tournament, the first of its kind held at the high school.

Twelve teams of students arrived at the tournament, an event called Stick it to Cancer, on Tuesday evening, dressed in uniforms of various colors and armed with hockey sticks.?They were there not only for friendly competition, but also to benefit Danielle Fischetti, a 10th-grade student diagnosed with cancer last year.? The fundraiser was suggested and organized by Patchogue Medford senior Ryan Murphy.

Although Murphy had never met Fischetti prior to the night of the tournament, he had heard about her diagnosis and saw the event as a way to send her and her family a positive message.

“I wanted to help put her and her family at ease,” he stated at the tournament, “And to prove that she has a whole community backing her fight and helping her cause. I wanted her to know she’s not alone in this.”

Murphy began to consider the idea of a school-wide floor hockey tournament after observing students’ enthusiasm while playing the game in gym class. ?“I thought, why not take something fun and put it towards a great cause?” he said.

The turnout exceeded his most optimistic expectations; the number of teams signed up to compete was twice the anticipated number before Murphy and his faculty advisors closed the tournament to further competitors. Equally shocked by the student body’s overwhelming response was Fischetti, who attended the event.

“I didn’t expect this at all,” she said, looking agog at the attending crowd. “It’s nice knowing I have something to come back to, and nice to know there are people who care.”

Word of the tournament reached as far as the New York Islanders. During a brief ceremony at the event, faculty advisor Angela D’Amico presented both Murphy and Fischetti not only with certificates of achievement sent by the NHL team, but also with VIP tickets for an upcoming game.?

Murphy was proud to present Fischetti with $1,450, earned solely from event presales.?Ticket and T-shirt sales during the tournament brought in another $1,435, which will also be donated to the Fischetti family.

The floor hockey tournament served the additional purpose of uniting the diverse Patchogue-Medford High School community by the common bonds of its passion, both for taking care of its own and for friendly athletic competition.

“I’m busting with pride that so many students are participating,” said D’Amico before the event began. “We have all social groups here, even ones that wouldn’t normally interact with one another. Students who don’t normally participate in anything are getting a chance to shine, to leave high school having been a part of something.”

Participants shared D’Amico’s excitement, playing one another with enthusiasm and sportsmanship as the bracket narrowed. Between playoffs and semi-finals, a special game was held between the Patchogue-Medford faculty and custodial staff, the latter team emerging as the clear victors.

Student team HCL won the tournament championship in a 1-0 game against the Benders after an impressive showing throughout the evening. The team consisted of Captain Frankie Lewando, Chris Bowe, George Hansen, Martin Strunk, Eugene Stumme, Dom Cassella, Mike Ida, Remy Smith, Dan Reyes, Kevin Morrissey, coach Jessica D’Amico, and manager Michaela Collins.

Stick it to Cancer was made possible by wide support from members of the high school community. Faculty, security and student volunteers came together and collaborated to ensure the success of the event, demonstrating the strength of a united front in furthering a worthy cause.

Story By: MARGARET-ANNE LOGAN ,
26 February 2014

Source: http://www.longislandadvance.net/articles/2014/02/27/Pat-Med-students-Stick-it-to-Cancer-in-hockey-tournament

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Student-athletes from the Southern Connecticut State University athletic department traveled to the Beecher School in New Haven on Thursday for another session of the interactive academic program with sixth grade students at the school. Members of the softball team took part in the event, which featured small group sessions. The program will continue weekly throughout the remainder of the academic year.

This program is just one example of many community outreach events that SCSU student-athletes will take part in as part of the Tim Greer Insurance Agency Community Service Cup.

Initiated in September, 2008, the ‘Community Service Cup’ program provides a competitive format that allows student-athletes to gain an enriched experience through engagement with the on-campus and local communities by supporting ventures of traditional citizens, campus community members and peer students and student-athletes. SCSU student-athletes volunteered more than 3,000 hours of their time to numerous outreach efforts, both on-campus and in Greater New Haven, during the 2012-13 academic year.

Source: http://www.southernctowls.com/news/2014/2/27/SB_0227143607.aspx

WOODBRIDGE, Conn. – The Southern Connecticut State University volleyball team took time out on Saturday to assist at the Easter Seals Volleyblast event at the Connecticut Sports Center in Woodbridge. Student-athletes from the squad assisted with officiating, scorekeeping and administrative duties during the course of the event.

This event is just one example of many community outreach events that SCSU student-athletes will take part in as part of the Tim Greer Insurance Agency Community Service Cup.

Initiated in September, 2008, the ‘Community Service Cup’ program provides a competitive format that allows student-athletes to gain an enriched experience through engagement with the on-campus and local communities by supporting ventures of traditional citizens, campus community members and peer students and student-athletes. SCSU student-athletes volunteered more than 3,000 hours of their time to numerous outreach efforts, both on-campus and in Greater New Haven, during the 2012-13 academic year.