Cross Country Teams to Participate in “ACC Community Connections” Outreach Program

Oct. 26, 2011

CLEMSON, SC – In conjunction with this weekend’s ACC Cross Country Championships in Clemson, SC, member institutions will participate in the conference’s “Community Connections” outreach program. Officials from Central Elementary School will be on hand at the championship meet to accept a donation of books for its library. The presentation will be made at the awards ceremony, which will immediately follow the conclusion of the men’s and women’s cross country races at Musser Fruit Research Center. The cross country student-athletes will compete in the men’s 8K at 10:00 AM and women’s 6K at 11:00 AM on Saturday, October 29.

The Atlantic Coast Conference instituted the Community Connections outreach program as a way to sponsor educational and mentoring activities and donate books in order to teach life lessons to elementary and middle school students in the communities in which the league’s student-athletes compete for their season-ending ACC Championships. Due to the travel schedule for league schools, the ACC opted to donate books to a local elementary school instead of sending student-athletes to perform community service at the school site.

ACC student-athletes give back to their championship host communities by teaching life lessons such as teamwork, healthy living, overcoming adversity, and sportsmanship. In 2010-11, the first year of the program, the ACC and its member institutions donated more than 200 books to schools and organizations across four states.

Clemson’s T.I.G.E.R! Read program was a natural fit for ACC Community Connections. It is a part of the university’s Be a T.I.G.E.R! character education program. The reading program began in October with books provided by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Each week, Clemson student-athletes read to Central Elementary students from books selected through the university’s children’s literature classes that represent the five character traits in the program.