What’s Happening with SOS…

During the third week of July, three student-athletes had the opportunity to attend Camp Read-A-Rama at the Clemson Outdoor Lab. Camp Read-A-Rama is a one week camp where children’s literature is used to create many hands-on educational activities centered around the books. Each of the three weeks that the camp is conducted has a different theme for the books that the children read. The themes range from “Mess Makers” to “Incredible Edibles.” Nikki Dixon, Brannon Sulka and Katie Inclan had the opportunity to be guest readers during a session at camp. Brannon Sulka reflected on her experience saying, “I had a great time reading to children at Camp Hope during this year’s Read-A-Rama week. The children were a lot of fun to spend time with, and it is always so rewarding to interact with kids in such a way that encourages them to learn and to be inquisitive.”

On June 28, Laura Loveless and Katie Inclan traveled to Greenwood to talk at Camp Powerpuffers. Camp Powerpuffers is a camp conducted by Piedmont Technical College that focuses on helping children learn to control their asthma. The camp and the athletes’ presentation was designed to encourage the children to not let their asthma stand in the way of their dreams. Laura and Katie shared their personal experiences with asthma and ways in which they are able to manage it and be college athletes.

Finishing up the month of July, the Community Relations Office conducted a presentation for some incoming freshman student-athletes. The presentation focused on the different components of the Be a T.I.G.E.R! program and the many ways that these student-athletes could get involved with service opportunities. Over 50 members joined the Solid Orange Squad at this meeting. The Solid Orange Squad is an elite student-athlete service organization that focuses on giving back to the surrounding community.

School is quickly approaching and student-athletes are returning to campus to begin training for their upcoming seasons.  The Community Relations Office is also hard at work preparing for the upcoming school year. It will be a busy and exciting year to give back to the community.