COLLEGE PARK, Md.- The University of Maryland Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) elected its executive board for the 2017-2018 academic year this past week.
Kristen Confroy (women's basketball) was voted as President while Adam Greene (football), Kayla Richardson (women's track and field), Abagail Bentz (volleyball) and Alex Leto (men's track and field) were elected Vice President's.
Confroy, a senior in the upcoming academic year, will replace Hannah Dewey (softball) as SAAC President.
"I am incredibly excited for this opportunity to continue to develop the SAAC influence to better the lives of student-athletes while expanding the impact that we can have on our community,” said Confroy.
This past academic year under Dewey's leadership, SAAC was involved in numerous civic engagement projects, including:
- House of Ruth Women's Shelter Collection
- Maryland and Penn State Student-Athletes collaborated on a community outreach initiative to give supplies to women's shelters in need.
- Terps Got Talent- Terp Thon partnership
- In conjunction with TERP Thon, the student-athlete talent show raised funds for the Children's National Hospital in Washington D.C. Student athletes had an opportunity to showcase their diverse talents on the stage, not just on the field.
- Terpsgiving
- For the fourth consecutive year, Maryland student-athletes partnered with ShopRite and the Amazing Grace Church to provide 200 Thanksgiving meals to families in need in the Baltimore area.
- Adopt-A-Family
- SAAC provided presents for families that needed assistance purchasing holiday gifts. Each sports team provided for a family and the staff took on three families.
- Reddy 2 Fight Baskets
- Reddy 2 Fight is an organization that provides care packages/goodie bags to kids with cancer and other life threatening illnesses who are in the hospital. SAAC created and delivered goodie bags around different holidays, including Christmas, Valentine's Day, and will for Easter.
The outgoing senior is excited to pay attention to how SAAC grows after she leaves here.
"I'm extremely excited to see what the new executive board will develop in the upcoming year,” said Dewey. “With such a diverse group of student-athletes, I believe they will make huge strides in our committee's connections all over campus. They are already leaders in their respective sports, so this is the perfect avenue for them to continue leading student-athletes to become positive role models in our community. I can't wait to see SAAC grow under Kristen and the rest of the board.”
Incoming Vice President's Kayla Richardson and Abigail Bentz are honored and excited to join the executive board and had this to say about their nominations:
"I am honored to serve as one of the 2017-18 SAAC Vice Presidents and am looking forward to representing all Maryland Student Athletes for the upcoming year,” said Richardson. “I plan on working closely with our team to address all current issues and concerns that people may have a create solution hoping that it will better our organization and athletic experience here at the University."
"I'm very excited to be joining the exec board next year,” said Bentz. “SAAC is such an important piece to developing a relationship between the community, athletic administration and the student-athletes, and I can't wait to be more involved in that".
To round out the 2016-2017 academic year, SAAC will host a Fan Fast after the football spring game on April 22. Awareness will be raised for each respective team's foundation they chose to support throughout the season. There will also be a silent auction to help raise funds for all the organizations/foundations.
Maryland SAAC Mission Statement:
The mission of Maryland SAAC is to promote the total student-athlete experience, including increasing awareness of SAAC and its role, cultivating leadership and service initiatives and enhancing the student-athlete voice.
