Logan Roberts (right) runs at the Bear Twilight Invitational for Baylor University.
Logan Roberts doesn’t run away from responsibility.
A distance runner for the Bears track and field and cross country team, Roberts serves as Big 12 Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee co-chair and is the conference’s representative on the Division I SAAC.
At the campus level, the Baylor SAAC has been involved in several projects, including Mission Waco programming for inner-city youth. Roberts said he and his fellow student-athletes know that they have a duty and a responsibility to the Waco community, and want to use their platform to make a positive impact on the kids.
“We play sports with them and if they need help with homework we help them with that,” said Roberts, a perennial Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and Dean’s List recipient who is majoring in Health Science/Pre-Physical Therapy. “But most of the times they want to play and hang out with the kids they see on TV, the football players and the basketball players.”
Logan Roberts.
The experience has helped the student-athletes feel like they have a purpose, Roberts said.
“They end up having a bigger impact on us than we do on them,” he said. ”That’s really how we feel because they’re inspiring kids that just need a little direction, and we want to help them out with that.”
The Big 12 Conference has a partnership with Special Olympics, so Baylor has hosted Special Olympics events, usually in the form of clinics. Working with the Heart of Texas Special Olympics group, the student-athletes man stations representing different sports.
“It really puts it in perspective that what we do is more than just going out there and racing or competing on the basketball court or baseball field,” he said.
As a high school student, Roberts was involved with his church youth group. He went on mission trips to Guatemala and France and also helped with hurricane relief in Florida.
“Just because somebody speaks a different language doesn’t mean you can’t have a positive impact on them,” he said. “The language barrier is something that makes us unique, but the purpose is the same, to help out our friends and neighbors and countries that are less fortunate.”
The North Carolina native said the experiences had a huge impact on his life, and made him determined to stay involved with community service projects in college. He became involved with the Baylor SAAC as a sophomore and immersed himself in the committee’s campus activities.
For more information on NCAA SAAC groups, click here.
