By Lauren Zedlar
Elm Staff Writer
During these unprecedented times, Washington College’s community of student-athletes are striving to connect with each other more than ever. These efforts can be seen through Washington College’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee, better known as WAC SAAC.
The group serves as the voice of student-athletes throughout the WC community. They allow athletes a platform to voice their concerns in order to develop solutions to better the athletic department, school, and community.
For this upcoming year, their goal is to continue to fulfill this role and “to better establish [their] presence with the COVID-19 crisis going on in order to provide support for our athletes when they need it most,” said sophomore women’s tennis player and head of the Racial Justice Committee, Alisha White.
Junior field hockey player, Kailyn Brandt, is the president of the Committee and overseen by Head Women’s Basketball Coach, Alisha Mosely.
Their several committees have been hard at work to achieve these goals in order to enhance the student-athlete experience even while at home.
The Events Committee plans to do this virtually with events like virtual trivia nights and guest speakers over “Zoom” calls in order to stay connected with the WC community whilst keeping students safe. This committee is led by senior baseball player, CJ Gillmer. This committee works closely with the Student Government Association on campus as well.
The Community Outreach Committee is led by senior women’s soccer player, Annalie Buscarino, and based in Chestertown. It plans to partner with the Kent County Schools Backpack Program, which focuses on providing healthy meals and snacks for children while school breakfasts and lunches are unavailable during the pandemic.
The Social Media and Communications Committee plan to get more involved with students through fun Instagram challenges and their own twist on team takeovers. It is led by sophomore women’s tennis player, Sarah Bruno.
They also plan to recognize certain Shorewomen and Shoremen that are positively impacting their community by spotlighting them on social media.
While fundraising at home may prove to be challenging, the Fundraising Committee is planning further to the future for fundraisers when students are able to return safely on campus hopefully next spring. This includes fundraising events like selling Chick-fil-a sandwiches on campus and t-shirts at sports events. Junior volleyball player, Jennifer Kabrick heads this committee.
The newest committee, Racial Justice, plans to collaborate with the Black Student Union to better embrace diversity within the athletic department at WC. They will collaborate to align their initiatives with the diversity groups on campus to create a more inclusive environment among all student-athletes.
“We want to drive more conversations within our community. In addition, we plan to collaborate with our Social Media and Communications Committee to spread awareness, educate, and inform those both in and outside our community about racial injustice,” said White.
Through various virtual events and social media, WAC SAAC intends to stay well connected with the student-athlete community. They continue to host monthly virtual meetings in order to stay up to date with everything that could be affecting WC’s student-athletes.
The committee will continue to brainstorm and plan future SAAC events for upcoming semesters when students are back on campus. To stay up to date with all of WAC SAAC’s events, you can go visit the newly-created SAAC webpage at WashingtonCollegeSports.com or follow them on instagram @washcollsaac.