April 10, 2017
By Peyton Hamby
AuburnTigers.com
Student-Athlete Day is a day designated to honor collegiate student-athletes across the country, but Auburn University athletes decided to make it about much younger students.
Sixth graders from Drake Middle School are invited to participate in a Sports and Science camp hosted by Auburn's Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Along with the kinesiology department, participating athletes showed the students from Drake what goes into being a student athlete with demos of how the body moves, how to prepare for games and relay races.
"It's just a chance to hang out with them and show them what it's really like to do what we do every day," senior gymnast and SAAC president Kullen Hlawek said. "Something like this would have been a great opportunity when I was their age because coming into college I didn't know what this was going to be like. We're just letting them come in and experience what we experience."
Drake Middle School Assistant Principal Dr. Jonathan Finch saw excitement in the students and said he hopes that one of the kids will find a career and become interested in kinesiology, even if it's just one student.
Junior swimmer and SAAC Vice President Grant Schenk said since the community and the family atmosphere is everything to this university, it is rewarding to talk and interact with the kids.
"We hope that a day like this helps encourage the kids to maybe pursue an athletic career. This can really get them up and get them moving," Hlawek said.
"There's one little boy here that we haven't seen smile all year, and today he's smiling," Drake Middle School teacher Terry Kirchler said. "That's what it's all about. Some of the children would never get to do anything like this so for them this a big deal."