Georgetown senior Deidra Sanders is leading a grassroots effort to touch the lives of Washington, D.C., middle school students. According to its website, The Grassroot Project educates at-risk youth about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention by using student-athletes as role models.

As managing director for The Grassroot Project, she manages and facilitates three Grassroot programs based in D.C.: Grassroot Bison (Howard), Grassroot Colonials (George Washington) and Grassroot Hoyas (Georgetown). Sanders said she is involved in every aspect of the organization from recruiting and training new athletes, communicating with the schools, finance, fundraising, as well as monitoring and evaluation of all programs.

“The Grassroot Project is designed to allow student-athletes to give a little of their time and do a lot of good,” Sanders said of the nearly 200 student-athletes who reach almost that many middle school students each semester through the peer education program.

Sanders’ involvement began in August 2009 after hearing about The Grassroot Project from women’s basketball student-athlete and good friend Monica McNutt. Sanders said she went to the first training session and “fell in love” with the program, founded by former Georgetown student-athlete Tyler Spencer.

 Sanders said the most rewarding aspect of her involvement is watching students learn.

“We work with really hyper and exciting middle school students, and it may seem that they do not care or they are not learning everything that we are teaching them,” she said. “But our students remember everything we teach them on how they can live a healthy life.

“Every semester I am privileged to work with students that have been affected by this disease in some way and are glad to have someone to talk to about their experience.” 

 Her most rewarding experience came last semester, when Grassroot Hoyas and Grassroot Colonials partnered together to work with a group of students who were either infected or whose lives were dramatically affected by HIV/AIDS.

“They were so happy that we were there to talk to them and let them know that they can be whatever they want to be in life,” Sanders said. “From only one session, I felt like we were really helping and showed that this disease is real and is hurting the D.C. community.” 

Sanders’ philanthropic leanings began at age 15 through a tutoring and mentoring program in Memphis called Peer Power, which taught her the value of giving back. She still volunteers with the organization when she returns to her hometown.

Finding time to give back is a priority for the busy Sanders, an international political economy major.

Last month, Sanders ran the 400-meter leg of the Hoyas’ distance medley relay that earned seventh place at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, earning its members first team All-America accolades. She also serves as secretary of the Georgetown Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

While it is a challenge to balance academics, athletics and The Grassroot Project, Sanders has found a support system at Georgetown. The academic support staff, coaches and School of Foreign Service Dean (Bryan Kasper) have worked to create an environment where she can do it all.

“Life is still hectic even with all of the support, and all the Grassroot volunteers are always there to help in any way to help us reach as many students as possible,” said Sanders

Sanders will be graduating in May and said she already has job offers from the FBI as well as Apple. While she would like to work with The Grassroot Project full-time and expand its programming to the three other universities in the D.C. metro area, Sanders said the funding is not available.

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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.

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There’s always time to help others.

That’s the clock management philosophy of Plattsburgh lacrosse student-athlete Tucker Glass.

Glass, who graduated in three and a half years with his bachelor’s degree in history, is currently working on his master’s degree in adolescent education. As a member of the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, he is one of 24 student-athletes offering input on the rules, regulations and policies that affect student-athletes.

So Glass understands the constraints of a busy schedule as well as anyone.

Tucker Glass

“Once you nail down the academic and athletic side of it, you still have time to do things rather than just sitting around like a normal student or letting life pass you by,” said Glass, a redshirt junior in terms of his athletic eligibility. “It’s really important to get out and have an impact on the community, because they give back to you when you’re out there playing the games cheering you on or giving back to you showing up for events for the Plattsburgh State SAAC or fundraising efforts that our teams have in terms of sponsorships or moral support in general.”

The school’s SAAC collaborates with teams already involved in initiatives, Glass said, listing the involvement of the women’s basketball team with breast cancer awareness, the men’s ice hockey team’s work with the North Country Down Syndrome Association and the softball team’s relationship with Special Olympics athletes. (NCAA legislation mandates that all member institutions have SAACs on their respective campuses.)

The men’s lacrosse team supports fundraisers for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a children’s cancer research organization. The Cardinals’ efforts are spearheaded by lacrosse assistant coach Ryan Cavanagh. The trademark event held in conjunction with the Plattsburgh SAAC is called ‘Cardinals Clip Cancer,’ as heads are shaved as a sign of solidarity to the children who lose their hair due to cancer treatments. The disease has impacted the lives of several lacrosse team members, Glass said, including a teammate whose younger cousin passed away from a rare form of cancer.

“Hearing those stories and sharing really gets you out there wanting to support these causes,” Glass said. “Community service is a vital part to the core values of athletics.”

The Cardinals were recently featured in the NCAA Division III Monthly Newsletter. In addition, each team member is required to spend six hours of community service, which Glass has spent at the Salvation Army soup kitchen and cleaning up the area around the facility.

“It’s a requirement because our coach, as well as us, feel we need to give back,” Glass said. “It’s about character, classroom, community. You can find six hours in a semester.”

Reaching out to the community is crucial not only to the institution, but to the regional population, Glass said.

“It creates a harmonious environment between campus and community and that’s vital to Division III athletics as well as any institution,” he said.

The DIII SAAC has initiated a partnership with Special Olympics in a coordinated community-outreach effort. Glass attended the NCAA Convention earlier this month, when the partnership was announced at the DIII business session.

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