NCAA Team Works Challenge Release
HAMDEN, Conn. - Quinnipiac finished 10th in the nation in this year's Helper Helper and NCAA Division I Team Works Community Service Challenge. Team Works and Helper Helper allow schools to track and manage their community service efforts.
The University of North Dakota finished first in the country in Division I, and the Bobcats took 10th overall. Quinnipiac saw a 97% participation rate of student-athletes who volunteered this year and tallied a total of 1,515 total service hours. Quinnipiac student-athletes also volunteered at 10 events throughout the year including Boomers Boo Bash on campus.
"We are super proud of the hard work put forth by the student-athletes this semester,"
Amy Klopfenstein, Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Support said. "The Qmmunity Service/QCoor President, Kate Reilly (women's ice hockey), set a goal to have 100% participation of teams. Every athlete has some hours logged in Helper Helper. I would consider 97% participation a win!"
The Quinnipiac student-athletes also created Thanksgiving cards for an assisted living home in Hamden, put on a stuffed animal toy drive for Smilo Children's Hospital and volunteered at the Shoreline Sharks youth hockey practice.
As a whole, the Team Works Community Service Challenge saw an tremendous increase in participation this year. A total of 60,881 hours of service were recorded across the Division I, II and II challenges. Quinnipiac was the only school in the MAAC to break the top 20 in the Division I challenge.
NCAA Team Works, which coordinates community service efforts at the NCAA championships, and Helper Helper, a volunteer management and tracking platform, launched the community service competition to recognize student-athletes who give back to their communities. The competition, which ran from September through November, is based on the number of service hours completed and the number of participating student-athletes. Helper Helper tracks the school participation data throughout the competition.