Queens College Spring 2015 Community Service Actions

In MARCH ….

The Queens College women’s soccer team participated in a clinic as part of the national Women and Girls in Sports Day last week, but instead of being a normal, teaching clinic, the girls on the team wanted it to be more about mentorship, friendship and promoting the sport of soccer.

The clinic was called Game On! and was sponsored by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The venue was Flushing Meadow Park and the girls come out in droves to support the cause. Head Coach, Carl Christian, echoed the theme of the day when he said, “This was an opportunity for our female student-athletes to provide a positive experience and act as positive role models for the young girls. They enjoyed meeting and interacting with the kids through all the events including, but not limited to soccer.”

Members of the Knights team spoke with kids, played soccer, played double-dutch and told the girls stories about being a college student-athlete. It was as rewarding for members of the QC team as it was for the girls who showed up. One senior said, “It was nice to see the kids get involved in the sport I love. There’s nothing better than seeing kids share my enthusiasm for soccer.”

Another Freshman offered her thoughts as well, “It was great to give back to the community. Seeing how happy it made them to play and interact with us felt good to me. I cannot wait to do it again next year.”

The Queens College athletic department is dedicated to living the motto of the College, discimus ut serviamus, “we learn so that we may serve.”

In APRIL ….

Taking a brief respite for the lacrosse season, the Queens College lacrosse team spent Wednesday night donating their time and effort to the Materials for the Arts organization in Long Island City. The team chipped in by sorting and organizing numerous donations received by the charity. This is the second-straight year they’ve donated time to this unique charity.

The team spent their time sorting and organized numerous donated items including thigns from Christmas ornaments and Victoria’s Secret clothing to doorknobs and unused paper. All if it will be reused in the local community.

The Materials for the Arts is New York’s premiere reuse center, providing a way for companies and individuals to donate unneeded supplies to thousands of nonprofit organizations with arts programming and public schools. These materials get into the hands of children to help promote participation and growth in the arts.

Head Coach Todd Kaiser summed up the evening best, “To know that we are helping children is especially rewarding. Promoting the arts to them at a young age will help them as they get older.” He added, “taking time to serve the community before our busiest stretch of games in April will help bring us together and keep us focused.”

The Queens College fencing team volunteered its time to Maspeth Bible Church in Maspeth, Queens to “spring clean” and organize its public spaces and children’s play areas last weekend. They were joined by the men’s tennis team in a joint effort.

They helped clear and clean the preschool play area; later, like an anthropological crew, the two high-achieving academic fencers found, compiled. classified and marked every toy and craft item the well-stocked church offered its kids.

They also plied copious amounts of elbow grease to cleaning and reorganizing the gymnasium and gaming room. One athlete used her QC art-student education to crop and correct photos on the computer for a collage before jumping into the more active activities of moving and cleaning the play areas.

The fencing team had another successful season in 2014-15 and outside of competition, lived the College’s motto of Discimus ut Serviamus , ‘We learn so that we may serve.’

The Queens College men’s tennis team took time from its current season to give back to the local community as the entire team and both coaches helped clean up at the Faith Presbyterian Church in Queens.

The team spent time outside cleaning the courtyard of shrubs sticks and garbage and spent the majority of the time inside waxing the floor of the congregation room. This room is ground zero for the church and is used in a myriad of ways including, prayer, meetings and services to the congregation.

The team started by spreading a liquid solution to the floor that dissolved the old wax. Then, they used an industrial-sized buffing machine to further scrape off the old wax.

When the buffing was completed, the team mopped and swept so that the new wax could be applied. Other various projects included sweeping, mopping the gymnasium floor, and removing a hazardous tree, which blocked a lamppost in the parking lot. The QC Men’s Tennis team was happy to help out an important group in the community.

A total of 44 student athletes volunteered for 176 hours!