University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Men's Soccer Cleans Up North Carolina's Highways
May 18, 2000 | Men's Soccer
May 18, 2000
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- In an effort to volunteer their time to improve the community they live in, members of the University of North Carolina Men's Soccer Team this spring adopted an interstate highway near Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, N.C., as part of the National Adopt-A-Highway Program. At a minimum of four times a year, UNC players and their coaches have pledged to clean a two-mile stretch of road on Interstate 40.
"As a team, we want to give back to our community," says head coach Elmar Bolowich. "We want to be known as a team that is active in the community in helping children and those who aren't as fortunate as we are."
The men's soccer team is among the most active on the UNC campus in volunteer work. During the 1999-2000 academic year, rising senior Michael Bucy coordinated the UNC Dance Marathon for the second consecutive year, raising over $70,000 to support the North Carolina Children's Hospital, the only public hospital for children in the state.
"The dance marathon is about pursuing a common, worthwhile goal," Bucy says. "We celebrate not only the money we raise, but also the kids, who will touch our lives, and we leave thankful for being a part of it ' this is our dream."
The previous year, in 1998-99, Bucy coordinated the first annual Dance Marathon for the UNC Children's Hospital. Team members also aided a sports medicine research project at Duke University, volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House and hosted a youth clinic for Chapel Hill-area children.
The Tar Heels begin their 2000 campaign on Sept. 1 versus Illinois-Chicago as part of the UAB Nike Classic in Birmingham, Ala.
