AUBURN, Ala. – Knowing the caliber of her fellow nominees gave Sara Pacer an even deeper appreciation of her selection as the 2022-23 Brad Davis Southeastern Conference Community Service Leader of the Year.
"I was super honored and really surprised," said Pacer, a five-year letter winner from 2019-23 on Auburn's cross country and track and field teams. "Community service is such an emphasis in the SEC and I know there are a lot of athletes who stand for a lot of the same things I do. I knew they were all excellent people who were really invested in their community and athletic programs."
Selected by faculty athletics representatives from SEC universities, Pacer and Alabama swimmer Derek Maas will each receive $10,000 post-graduate scholarships, just in time for Pacer to begin her studies at UAB Heersink School of Medicine in July.
"I'm super thankful, grateful and honored to have that help," said Pacer, who is leaning toward practicing pediatric medicine after working with children during her time at Auburn. "This has been a goal of mine for the last four years, but really even longer than that. To see all of that hard work come to fruition is really sweet, and I'm really excited for the next chapter."
Pacer traces her passion for medicine from a mission trip she took to Guatemala before enrolling at Auburn University.
"When I came home, I realized there's a lot of that need around me and my community that I hadn't realized before," she said.
That recognition prompted Pacer to connect with Esperanza House, a non-profit that focuses on youth development, childcare and education in Auburn and neighboring Opelika.
"Because they came from a different background than I did, they didn't have people telling them you can do whatever you want to do," Pacer said. "That really impacted me because I saw these students full of potential who didn't see it in themselves.
"I wanted to use my platform in athletics and as a student in general to show them you can do this too. That became my goal working with those students and developing relationships with them."
AUSPY winner: Sara is Auburn's 2023 Scholar-Athlete of the Year
To Pacer's delight, many of the students she mentored decided to run track.
"Athletics levels the playing field," she said. "It's not about where you come from, it's about what you do on the court, the field or track. It's been sweet to use athletics as a way to show them you can do whatever you set your mind to. That's what I want them to look at me and see."
Pacer also volunteered at a non-profit medical clinic in Auburn that serves patients who don't have insurance.
"We meet them where they are," she said. "I've learned to listen and be that person they can lean into, and just love on them."
A spring 2023 biomedical sciences graduate from Auburn University's College of Sciences and Mathematics, Pacer balanced her academic accomplishments and community service with year-round training, competing in cross county in the fall, indoor track in winter and outdoor track each spring.
'My best friends': Sara Pacer (center) with cross country teammates in 2022
"My teammates have become my best friends," she said. "It's such a cool sport because you get to push yourself to limits you didn't know you could reach.
"I wouldn't be where I am without Coach Kindt and all of my teammates. They've made me who I am and they push me to be the best I can be in athletics and academics."
When injuries prevented her from competing at times, Pacer developed other ways to contribute, eventually leading to her becoming Auburn's sixth overall and third woman SEC Community Service Leader of the Year since its first presentation in 1996.
"The environment of Auburn is so special because it is a family," she said. "That's when you lean into that bigger perspective that this isn't just about me and my individual performance, this is about the team performance.
"This is also about the impact I can have on the community because of my platform. That's when I leaned into the work I was doing outside of running. That's really cool to see it all connect at the end."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
