UIW Earns Southland Strong Community Service Award
FRISCO, Texas – The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) from the University of the Incarnate Word received the Southland Strong Community Service Award for the 2021-22 academic year, as announced Thursday by Commissioner Chris Grant.
The Southland Strong Community Service Award is presented to the institution whose SAAC exhibited exceptional community service. UIW SAAC, under the direction of president Marissa Watters, created a health and wellness program during the summer of 2021 and rolled it out to the campus community in the fall. This was based on a three-pillar system of health and wellness of donations, activity and education.
First, SAAC solicited donations to create 100 Cardinal Care Kits, which contained food, clothing and hygiene projects to be donated to the homeless in San Antonio. The next step was a partnership with Northeast Transition Services (NETS) to bring special education students between the ages of 18-22 to participate in various warm up, cardio, abdominal and yoga exercises that they could do on their own. Additionally, the student-athletes created 16 original education pieces to be distributed to those people they worked with during the program.
“NETS were fortunate enough to experience the heart and pride of UIW’s student-athletes and Life Skills/SAAC program,” said Melissa Serda, NETS transition teacher/case manager and UIW alum. “The impact and memories this opportunity provided for our adult students is immeasurable. The student-athletes provided and experience out students would not have been privileged to on their own. Several NETS students had so much pride while they were on the UIW campus, many of them promised to return on their own for events of find a way to become a Cardinal themselves. That is an accomplishment that cannot be taught, but only experienced. The heart and pride of the student-athletes who participated in the program are a true reflection of a UIW Cardinal.”