Three dozen Lone Star Conference student-athletes and athletic
administrators met in Canyon, Texas, July 27-29, for the league's
third annual Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Summer
Retreat.
The three-day event, which took
place on the West Texas A&M University campus, is intended to
help improve communication amongst LSC SAAC groups and to help
energize student-athletes with ideas and "best practices" to be
implemented during the academic year.
"The retreat was successful due
to the quality of student-athletes involved," said Jay Poerner, LSC
assistant commissioner who oversees the conference SAAC efforts.
"The participants were able to share their views on an array of
important issues, while also getting to know each other in a fun
atmosphere."
The participants arrived on
Sunday and spent the evening at the Palo Duro Canyon, where they
attended the musical ‘Texas'.
The retreat continued on Monday
with a community service activity and the filming of the league's
Public Service Announcement. First the group constructed
three ramps as part of the Texas Ramps Project, a non-profit
organization which builds access ramps in and out of houses of
disabled people. Then the student-athletes took part in the
PSA shoot at locations on campus and in the Canyon community.
The event wrapped up on Tuesday
morning. Topics discussed during the retreat included the
NCAA Division II game environment initiative, Make-A-Wish
Fundraising, LSC Community Service Month (held in April), summer
school financial aid, compliance and roundtable topics covering
on-campus academic services, professional development and LSC
Championships.
Fourteen of the LSC's 15 member
institutions were represented at the meeting, with Tarleton State's
Caitlin Warren serving as meeting chair. Chris Morrison, a
Southwestern Oklahoma baseball player, will take over for a
one-year term as the group's chair. Angelo State baseball
player Christopher Odom represents the LSC on the NCAA Division II
National SAAC.
Other student-athlete's who
attended the Summer Retreat were Abilene Christian's Kimberly
Prather and Emery Dudensing, Cameron's Callie Schlatter,
East Central's Danielle Clark and Tyler Thethford, Eastern New
Mexico's Clayton Young and Caitlyn Murphy, Midwestern State's
Sandra Garcia, Northeastern State's Jon Evans, Southeastern
Oklahoma's Will Robinson and Jami McAdoo, SWOSU's Krystal Wright,
Tarleton's Cassidi Porter and Keith Peacock, Texas
A&M-Commerce's Leonard Jackson, Texas A&M -Kingsville's
Markeith Wesley and Cassie Anderson, Texas Woman's Jessica Hanna
and Jennifer Kingsbury, West Texas A&M's Charly Martin and Kolt
Kittley.
Also attending as advisor's were
CU's Kim Vinson, ENMU's Jackie Kabrick, NSU's Dee Gerlach, SOSU's
Cherrie Wilmoth, SWOSU's Kelli Litsch, TSU's James Gibson,
A&M-C's Summer Spurlock, TWU's Lisa Klein and Nino Berticelli
and WTAMU's Holly Troth and Michael
McBroom.