Twenty-four schools and one conference have been named finalists for the 2017 Division II Award of Excellence, an accolade recognizing positive campus and community engagement events hosted during the past year.
Each year, Division II selects one finalist from each conference and one independent representative to be recognized for events that exemplify any of the six Division II attributes: learning, balance, resourcefulness, sportsmanship, passion and service. Each finalist will receive $500.
This year’s finalists hosted events that honored members of the military, benefited local youth, assisted people with disabilities, raised money for positive causes and more.
Two runner-up recipients and one overall winner will be announced during the Division II Business Session at the 2017 NCAA Convention on Jan. 21 in Nashville, Tennessee. The winner will receive $1,500 and a nationally televised football or basketball game during the 2017-18 season. The first runner-up will receive $1,250, and the second runner-up will receive $1,000. All prize money is expected to be used on future community engagement initiatives.
The following are the 2017 finalists, alphabetized by conference:
School: California State University, Stanislaus
Conference: California Collegiate Athletic Association
Event: Heart of a Warrior. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee paired a series of anti-bullying assemblies at local elementary schools with a character-based award called the “Heart of a Warrior.”
School: Wilmington University (Delaware)
Conference: Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference
Event: Military Appreciation Day. The event was held during a baseball/softball doubleheader.
School: Winston-Salem State University
Conference: Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Event: She’s Got It Covered Classy Hat Affair. A celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day and a fundraiser for scholarships in women’s sports at Winston-Salem State.
School: Lees-McRae College
Conference: Conference Carolinas
Event: Lunch Buddy Program. Members of the men’s basketball team ate lunch once a week with local elementary students.
School: Roberts Wesleyan College
Conference: East Coast Conference
Event: The Game. A collaborative performance featuring the men’s and women’s basketball teams performing choreography to a score performed by the wind ensemble.
School: Arkansas Tech University
Conference: Great American Conference
Event: Paint the Town Green and Gold. A collaborative effort between the school and the community to increase attendance at games. Local businesses decorated their interiors and exteriors to show pride and support for Arkansas Tech.
School: Walsh University
Conference: Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Event: Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Student-athletes used the holiday to give back to the community.
School: Missouri University of Science and Technology
Conference: Great Lakes Valley Conference
Event: Joey’s Day Wish Reveal. The athletics department, led by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, raised enough money for Make-A-Wish to host a wish reveal on campus. The wish reveal took place on the basketball court for one local youth battling cancer.
School: Ursuline College
Conference: Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Event: The ARROWS program (Academic Readiness Requires Outstanding Work and Support). A leadership development and mentoring program that provides Ursuline students the opportunity to mentor local high school students and to encourage them to pursue postsecondary education.
School: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Conference: Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Event: Nanook Olympics. An event that brought student-athletes together to try one another’s sports and celebrate the end of the year. It also served as a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish.
School: University of North Alabama
Conference: Gulf South Conference
Event: Connect1. A program designed to encourage face-to-face interaction and build interpersonal relationships among members of the North Alabama community, with a goal of decreasing isolation, depression and suicidal thoughts and actions in the age of social media.
School: Texas A&M International University
Conference: Heartland Conference
Event: Stand Down for Homeless Veterans. Sports teams and local businesses helped homeless veterans discover local services available to them.
School: Palm Beach Atlantic University
Conference: Independent
Event: Speak Out Sailfish (SOS). A campus initiative focusing on education about consent, sexual assault, sexual misconduct and harassment, Title IX policies and procedures, and bystander intervention training.
School: Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Conference: Lone Star Conference
Event: Celanese and American Diabetes Association Senior Night. The school partnered with local corporations to elevate diabetes education. The event included a community walk/run, free diabetes testing during a football tailgate, and video board testimonials and fundraising during the game.
School: Missouri Southern State University
Conference: Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Event: Team Up for Prom. A collaboration between the athletics department, local businesses and Easy Living Inc., which provides services to adults with developmental disabilities. The groups partnered to host a fun night for the Easy Living residents.
School: West Virginia State University
Conference: Mountain East Conference
Event: Month of Service. Student-athletes completed more than 500 hours of community service.
School: University of New Haven
Conference: Northeast-10 Conference
Event: Connor’s Wish. More than 25 campus organizations and members of the New Haven community collaborated to create a day around the wish reveal for a local boy.
School: Winona State University
Conference: Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference
Event: Step out of Stigma Week. Student-athletes provided resources and encouragement for community members dealing with a mental illness and started a conversation about stigma and its detrimental effects.
School: Hawaii Pacific University
Conference: Pacific West Conference
Event: Kam’s Helmets. The Kam’s Helmets program was started in honor of a student-athlete who died in a skateboarding accident. Each year, the Hawaii Pacific athletics department purchases multipurpose helmets with funds raised from basketball game ticket sales and private donations. Helmets are given to any person who wants one at a PacWest basketball game.
School: University of North Georgia
Conference: Peach Belt Conference
Event: Operation Nighthawks of Honor. Each athletics team was assigned a North Georgia graduate or former student killed in action while serving the country. The teams commemorated their service members all season. At the end of the season, memorabilia used to honor the fallen soldier was sold in an online auction, with the proceeds supporting the North Georgia Corps of Cadets Endowment Fund.
School: East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
Conference: Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
Event: Team IMPACT and East Stroudsburg Baseball. The baseball team hosted a cystic fibrosis awareness and fundraising day in honor of its Team IMPACT teammate.
School: Colorado Mesa University
Conference: Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Event: Grand Junction Challenger at 2016 Little League World Series. The school’s baseball team served as “buddies” to members of the Grand Junction Challenger baseball team during their trip to the Little League World Series. Challenger baseball is a division of Little League Baseball for individuals with physical and developmental challenges.
School: Wingate University
Conference: South Atlantic Conference
Event: United Way of Caring. Student-athletes participated in an annual communitywide service project organized by United Way.
Conference: Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Event: Go Green Campus Initiative. The conference worked to create and enhance recycling programs at their member schools.
School: Eckerd College
Conference: Sunshine State Conference
Event: Christmas for Kids. Members of the men’s and women’s basketball teams helped struggling families in the area by providing Christmas gifts for each child and household necessities for the parents.
