Wayne State University Athletics

General 9/3/2025 8:20:00 AM Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Wayne State Wins Second Annual GLIAC SAAC Community Service Championship

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University athletic department and its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) have won the GLIAC SAAC Community Service Championship for the second consecutive year as announced by the league office.

"I'm really proud of Wayne State Athletics for winning the GLIAC SAAC Community Service competition," commented former WSU Swimmer Evie Dice. "As co-President of WSU SAAC last year, it was fun to see and encourage student-athletes and teams to get involved with the Detroit community. I believe that community service brings our department together, and has helped the GLIAC become one instead of 11 separate schools, as we participated in community service projects with universities around us. I'm really excited to watch Wayne State Athletics to continue to excel not only within competition, but also in the community!"

Started for the 2023-24 academic year, the GLIAC SAAC conducted a year-long community service/charitable fundraising challenge that culminated in this end-of-year award to Wayne State, the school with the most per capita points. Points are earned as follows: one man hour of community service organized by student-athlete(s) = one point and $10 of donations fundraised for charity by student-athlete(s) = one point. At the end of the year, each school divided the number of points earned by the number of student-athletes, and the school with the highest resulting average was crowned the winner. Campus SAAC advisors were responsible for tracking the number of hours spent in community service and the amount of money raised.

This past year Warrior student-athletes completed a total of 6,044 hours of community service during the 2024-25 academic year (over 6,400 hours when including June and July), along with just over $1,000 in fundraising for a total of 5,129 points for an average score of 12.36 per student-athlete.

One of the goals of SAAC is to help student-athletes engage with and give back to their local communities. Most athletic departments and student-athletes are already doing some amount of service and fundraising, so this award is a way to record and celebrate those who are doing the most to give back. Student-athletes respond well to competition as a motivator, so this contest motivates student-athletes across the conference to continue and improve their already exceptional efforts. This also provides another opportunity for the schools and the conference to highlight the civic engagement of GLIAC student-athletes, which will drive increased fan support, and will also help student-athletes enhance their experiences and resumes to help prepare them for grad school, work and life after college.

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