It's "Beaver Youth Day" in Storm Lake

This from Becca Pennington, SAAC President at Buena Vista University:

Beaver Youth Day was an event held on Saturday, October 18th during our home football game. This event allowed all students through the 8th grade who attend the game with a supervising adult to have free admission. Upon entering the gate, kids received a BVU water bottle, free popcorn, free beaver tattoos, and entered their names for door prizes. We had a wonderful turnout of at least 130 kids and had wonderful weather.

Iowa Conference Meeting This Sunday, November 9

The annual meeting of the Iowa Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is this Sunday, November 9th at Centennial Oaks Golf Club in Waverly. Here's the agenda for the meeting:

Iowa Conference SAAC Meeting

November 9

Waverly, Iowa -- Centennial Oaks Golf Club

11:00a Arrival / Lunch

11:45a Meeting Begins

Agenda

1. Opening Remarks

Jennifer Thompson, SAAC Liaison, Buena Vista

Chuck Yrigoyen, IIAC Commissioner

2. Introductions / Campus SAAC Activities

3. NCAA Legislation

-- 10% Reduction in Contests

-- Recruiting Working Group

• Contact after Sophomore Year
• Contact on All Days of a Multi-Day Event
• On-campus Evaluation
• Celebratory Signing Letter

-- Nontraditional Season in Football

-- Other Questions about Proposals?

4. Iowa Conference Legislation

-- Sportsmanship Teams

-- Announcement of Acceptance

-- February 1 Start Date for Baseball / Softball

-- Sixth-Man Award for Men’s Basketball

-- Soccer “Plan of Improvement”

-- Elimination of Consolation Bracket in IIAC Tennis Tournaments

-- Change Outdoor Track & Field Date to Three Weeks Prior to Nationals

-- Ensure Schools are Able to Use Full 22 Weeks in Track & Field Season

5. Sportsmanship / Diversity Initiative

6. Spring Conference Call?

7. New Business / Q&A

BV's Unified Sports Day a Huge Success

Apologies for not posting sooner!!

Central's Fall Blood Drive Leads Us Off for 2014-15!

We pick up where we left off. This from the Central Student-Athlete Advisory Committee on the heels of their April blood drive:

We just got confirmation of the results from yesterday’s blood drive:  88 donors gave 85 units of blood, with 35 first-time donors!  WAY TO GO!  This was the best blood drive that SAAC has ever sponsored!  The donations can help impact over 250 hospital patient lives.  Thank you for your efforts to make this blood drive a success.  We are awaiting the numbers from Simpson and Buena Vista’s blood drives to determine the Blood Battle winner. Whether we win the contest or not, great job in supporting this very worthy cause.

Alicia O'Brien and Katelin Gannon, Central College SAAC Advisors

Central SAAC Sponsors Spring Blood Drive

These Central College SAAC members helped a SAAC-sponsored Spring Blood Drive at the school April 22nd. It was done in conjunction with LifeServe of Des Moines. Click here for their website.

Central SAAC Collects School Supplies for D-III Week Activity

The Central College SAAC sponsored a School Supplies Drive last week for the Children and Families Urban Mission in Des Moines. The drive was timed to coincide with NCAA Division III Week.  The group took donations all week and then set up at the baseball and softball games on Saturday for additional donations.  This photo shows some of the collected items.

Summary of Loras SAAC 2013-14 Activities

The Loras College Student Athletic Advisory Committee has had a busy year of events—and it is not over yet! Take a Kid to the Game Day has been a popular event during all sports seasons. In the fall and winter sport seasons, Football, Men’s and Women’s Soccer, and Men’s and Women’s Basketball all hosted the event. 

This spring, the sports teams hope to repeat the success of the events hosted last season. The Loras Softball team hosted a youth softball team from Sherrill, Iowa, The Sherrill Superstars, for last spring’s Take a Kid to the Game Day against Luther College. The Sherrill team has come to every softball camp this year during the fall and winter and Coach Peggy Hanson has requested the help of Duhawks at her team practices.

The Duhawk Talent Shows also has become a tradition on campus with the help of the Loras College SAAC. During the talent show a Men’s and a Women’s athletic team pair up and compete against their fellow Duhawks in a 1 minute performance. Last fall, the Loras College Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Swimming team took home the crown with their performance to Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball.” SAAC is planning another event to take place in the spring season, as well. The Talent Show has been a great way to bring all the athletic teams on campus together.

Over the holiday season, Loras College SAAC opened a campus wide Toys for Tots campaign. Each team found a way to donate in some way to the campaign, whether that was through working the Toys for Tots booth at athletic events or donating toys. 

At Loras College, the classroom is just as important as the field—athletes are always a student at Loras College first. For that reason, SAAC also had a Teacher Appreciation Social in the fall season. Professors, faculty, and staff at Loras College support and encourage student-athletes to pursue extra-curricular activities along with their academic career, and this day was used to thank these men and women for all they do for our student-athletes.

A final event to highlight from the fall season was the nine Loras College student-athletes who went to the Iowa Conference Student Athlete Leadership Conference. They brought back great ideas to SAAC! 

We also got together to take this photo in celebration of Loras's 175th anniversary. The SAAC is always looking for more ways to bring student-athletes and the Loras College community together!