Manhattan College Finishes Second in NCAA Fall Team Works Helper Helper Community Service Competition
MAAC Sports
Manhattan College and Marist College Athletics finished among the top programs in the country for the fall 2015 NCAA Team Works Competition presented by Helper Helper. The Jaspers finished second overall between 120 participating Division I, II, and III institutions. Participation accumulated to 40 different conferences and at least 40,000 student-athletes volunteering for the competition. A grand total of 71,526 hours of community service was provided to various communities around the country. The estimated total impact of the volunteer efforts reached $1.6 million.
The NCAA Team Works Competition is a national community service competition for NCAA DI, DII and DIII athletic departments and student-athletes. The NCAA Team Works Award recognizes institutions for their outstanding commitment to volunteerism and community service. Moreover, all NCAA-affiliated schools were able to participate in the 2015 fall semester competition using the Helper Helper platform. Schools were ranked from a combination of two parameters: 1) total hours per student-athlete 2) participation rate.
The Manhattan College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) spearheaded the community service efforts for the Jaspers. The Jaspers registered over 4,432 service hours and had participation from all of their athletic programs. Manhattan Women’s Lacrosse ranked first in the nation across all divisions as the most charitable women’s athletic program. Moreover, they logged 33 hours per student athlete on the team.
SAAC representative, Casey Silvestri, was the top Female Student Athlete among all participants completing over 80 hours in 18 total events. In addition, Meredith Bryany and Nikki Prestiano were first place finishers for the sports of softball and lacrosse. Manhattan’s Men’s and Women’s Track/Field and Softball programs also finished first in the country for their respective sports. Additionally, Men’s Soccer and Men’s Lacrosse accounted for top 5 finishes nationally.
Furthermore, Marist College Baseball and Lacrosse placed among the top 5 in the country in their respective sports. These two programs combined for a total of 1,021 hours during the four month competition. Pre-season Lacrosse Player of the Year, Joseph Radin, led all Marist men’s athletes by logging 23 hours.
A new competition will be launched for the spring of 2016. Schools will be pitted against each other in head to head matchups in a “March Madness” style bracket. Specific university teams will be able to compare themselves to other teams in terms of community service. A maximum of 5 teams at an institution can participate in the competition. MAAC member schools Marist, Manhattan, and Canisius have already committed to participate in the spring challenge.
https://www.helperhelper.us/w/ncaa-community-engagement-report/