Looking Back On A Year Of Service

CAROLINA OUTREACH
North Carolina student-athletes, coaches and athletic department staff members participated in more than 5,200 total hours of community outreach during the 2016-17 academic year. The Tar Heels partnered with a wide range of organizations, emphasizing involvement with local schools and with UNC Hospitals.

Habitat for Humanity
• UNC kicked off the year with the first-ever department-wide day of service, in which more than 100 student-athletes, coaches and staff members participated in a Habitat for Humanity build in Efland, N.C. Held on a July Saturday, it was the largest group that Orange County Habitat for Humanity had hosted in its 30-year history.
Additionally, members of the fencing, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, volleyball, cross country and track & field teams participated in builds during the 2016-17 school year.

UNC Hospitals
• Members of the football team visited patients at UNC Hospitals on the Fridays before home games, continuing a tradition now in its 27th years.
• The Tar Heels hosted a HEELoween Party at UNC Children's Hospital, decorating the Pediatric Play Atrium then leading games and crafts for the little goblins and super heroes who visited. Student-athletes also took kids trick or treating around the hospital and visited rooms of those who couldn't attend the party. Sixty Tar Heels from 10 teams participated.
• Carolina Athletics introduced the Tar Heel Treasure Cart, which student-athletes wheel up and down the halls with treats for young patients. Several teams visited the hospital to take the cart for a spin.
• Through its annual Erg-A-Thon, the Carolina rowing team raised nearly $8,000 to support breast cancer research at UNC's Lineberger Cancer Center.
• Student-athletes made the annual Touchstone Energy visit to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center and also made numerous visits to UNC Children's Hospital.

Team Impact
• Through a program called Team Impact, local kids who are battling health challenges are paired with college teams that offer encouragement and fun. The UNC men's and women's cross country teams "signed" 8-year-old Yash Krishnan in April, officially making him a part of the team.
The men's tennis team "adopted" 5-year-old Mick Macholl, celebrating his addition to the team at a ceremony in November. After Mick passed away in December, the team wore "Mick" patches throughout the season in his honor and memory.

Holiday Season
• UNC teams made a difference in the community during the holidays. UNC teams and athletic department staff members participated in the annual Share Your Holiday program, sponsoring more than 30 local kids and donating more than $6,500 to purchase gifts. The men's basketball team made additional donations through the Salvation Army, and the women's basketball team gathered donations for Toys for Tots.

National Girls & Women in Sports Day
• The Tar Heels drew their largest crowd ever – more than 800 people – for this annual commemoration of a national event. Carolina's female student-athletes shared their sports with young girls and boys, teaching skills and having fun.

Project Life Bone Marrow Drive
• UNC's Student-Athlete Advisory Council hosted a Project Life Bone Marrow Drive at Loudermilk Center and also at a baseball game. More than 70 people joined the registry during the drive.

Compass Center Toiletry Drive
Tar Heel teams encouraged fans to bring toiletry items to several games and matches during the spring, then transported those donations to the Compass Center for Women. More than 700 items were collected.

Relay for Life
Eighty student-athletes and staff members participated at the event on April 7-8, despite unseasonably chilly weather, and raised more than $1,000 for the fight against cancer, bringing the three-year Carolina Athletics total to nearly $15,000.

Vs. Cancer
• Several teams hosted "Vs. Cancer Days" at home contests, and the men's lacrosse team raised more than $32,000 as many of the players had their heads shaved for the cause.

Hurricane Matthew Relief
• Student-athletes joined with other campus groups to assemble educational care packages for elementary school students in Eastern North Carolina who were affected by flooding from Hurricane Matthew. In a partnership between the Carolina Center for Public Service and the Department of Athletics, Tar Heels put together math and reading materials to be used by third, fourth and fifth grade students in Princeville, N.C.

Supporting Local Schools
• The Tar Heels made frequent trips to local schools to read with students. The field hockey, volleyball, football and women's lacrosse teams participated in Duke Energy Reading Days at four Chapel Hill elementary schools and many supported Northside Elementary's Read-A-Thon.
• More than 15 athletes from different teams came together at the beginning of spring break to help Durham's Grady A. Brown Elementary School build an "outdoor classroom."
• In its fourth year, the Pen Pal Program remained strong, with 250 Tar Heels corresponding with students from New Hope Elementary School. Many of the pen pals got to meet at an end-of-year event at a home baseball game.
• Members of the women's tennis team joined with counterparts from Duke to talk to students at Glenwood Elementary about compassion as part of the Compassion It movement.

Ronald McDonald House
• The field hockey, women's lacrosse and swimming & diving teams cooked for residents and the football team worked to beautify the grounds.
• Nazair Jones, a member of the football team, made weekly visits to the Ronald McDonald House after having spent time at one as a child.

Service Honors
• The ACC Top Six for Service Awards recognize six individuals or teams at each Atlantic Coast Conference school who have led the way in service during the year. Carolina's recipients for 2016-17 were Leila Evans (field hockey), Nazair Jones (football), Kayla Miles (women's lacrosse), Bryana Nguyen (women's golf), Mark Rizzo (men's lacrosse) and the UNC softball team.
• Mark Rizzo, a senior on the men's lacrosse team, was a finalist for the One Love Unsung Hero Award.

Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy

The Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy completed its 13th year as the premier leadership development program in collegiate athletics. Eighteen student-athletes, all part of the Veteran Leaders program, were honored as Tar Heel Leaders of Distinction, the academy's highest honor.

Those who earned the honor were: Hayley Carter (women's tennis), Leslie Cloots (women's golf), Matthew Conway (men's swimming & diving), Abigail Curry (volleyball), Sheila Doyle (volleyball), Abby Fisher (women's swimming & diving), Hanna Gardner (women's soccer), Sarah Hanvy (women's fencing), Molly Hendrick (women's lacrosse), Amanda Lalezarian (women's fencing), Kendra Lynch (softball), Darcy McFarlane (women's soccer), Katie McKay (women's swimming & diving), Hellen Moffitt (women's swimming & diving), Jack Nyquist (men's swimming & diving), Theophilus Onigbinde (men's fencing), Caylee Waters (women's lacrosse) and Julia Young (field hockey).

• The third-annual Carolina Sports Leadership Summit (CSLS), organized by participants in Leadership Lab and hosted by the bCLA, provided valuable leadership instruction to more than 100 middle school athletes.

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related News

Related Videos