Eastern Washington University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) members and other student-athletes made a short trip to Salnave Elementary School in Cheney to talk with the 5^th grade class. The Eastern student-athletes included EWU football's Jett Carpenter, Bret Fullington, Wyatt Hansen, Robert Mason III, Sandrey Mitberg, Brenden Rivera and Nolan Ulm, along with soccer's Grace Terrill and Katrina Kupp, women's basketball's Aaliyah Alexander, Jaleesa Lawrence and Jamie Loera, and volleyball's Morgan Blazzard.



The group shared how they choose their respective sports and what they enjoyed about them growing up. They talked about why it was important to be out in the community so close to campus.

"I grew up in a small community in Troy, Idaho with 800 people in the town. I remember at any of my volleyball or basketball games, families were there and the whole community came out to support us," Blazzard described. "I thought it was special and important to start reaching out to kids in our community and to encourage them to come out to our games and make those connections."

"It's important to go to schools close to campus because it's an opportunity to represent Eastern athletics and be known as who you are rather than just an athlete," Rivera added. "By representing you and your team kids see us as more than an athlete and it provides a rewarding experience to serve other in the community. It fits into SAAC because we want to represent the greater Cheney area and help in any way possible by going out into the community and serving and representing ourselves and our teams while inspiring the next generation."



The questions continued to what it was like being a collegiate athletes. They talked about the best parts of college, but also the more challenging parts. It was important for the group to answer questions to better connect with the kids.

"I love just going into the community showing these kids what is possible for them. I think it's the coolest thing," Ulm emphasized. "I can think back to that time in my life when I wanted to be a Division 1 or even colligate athlete. With Salnave being so close, I realized there a lot kids that care. Showing face and giving them these messages, they really take it in."

Blazzard echoed the same ideas, "I wanted to the kids to see that we are approachable people in the community and we would love to develop relationships with them. It was also for them to see that going to college is not out of their reach. That goes for playing college sports too. I wanted to let them ask as many questions as they have about college or our personal lives. Anything that they were worried about or didn't understand so we could simplify it so they could feel going to college was achievable."



Teamwork was a major theme that the Eagle student-athletes shared with the fifth graders, emphasizing how important it was to have that support system for each other. They discussed combining their effort can help them better achieve their goals.

"I think it was really important to talk about empathy with the kids because going to college can be shocking at times," explained Blazzard. "That new experience makes it clear how much of an emphasis there needs to be on the team-aspect of college life and how that can help understand what others are going through."

There was of course less serious questions, with everything ranging from "What your favorite cereal is?" to "What kind of animal are you?" and "What's is your favorite Call of Duty game?"

With Salvane being right down the road from Eastern, SAAC and the other student-athletes look forward the next opportunity to interact with kids.

"I'd love to continue building interactions with Salnave and other schools by having it be a normal occurrence and maybe even working other events in the community," Rivera emphasized. "By having a face in the community it would be a great opportunity to interact and even inspire children and their families to attend an Eastern event and create long lasting memories."

Ulm further explained why community outreach so a priority for him, "I want to get more teams in schools doing different things and creating those partnerships. There was a kid who came up to me and we had a one-on-one interaction. That's the coolest stuff. There is a certain crowd that soaks everything in like a sponge and means so much for them when we are there."