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Dominican University of California earns 2010 PacWest Community Engagement Award
Student-athletes help Dominican University of California earn
2009-10 PacWest Community Engagement Award
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – For its student-athletes’ commitment to outstanding service in the greater Marin community, Dominican University of California has been selected the Pacific West Conference Community Engagement Award winner for 2009-10.
The annual award honors outstanding community service and projects performed by a PacWest member’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). A panel reviews the nominations and chooses a winner.
Chaminade University of Honolulu captured the inaugural award in 2008, while Dixie State College of Utah claimed the honor last year.
“It was very difficult to select a winner this year because of the outstanding effort by the student-athletes in the PacWest,” Bob Hogue, commissioner of the PacWest, said. “But the Dominican University of California student-athletes did an exceptional job and they, along with their institution, deserve this award.”
In addition to Dominican claiming the honor, the committee also noted the outstanding efforts by the student-athletes of Grand Canyon University, Hawai‘i Pacific University, Chaminade and Dixie State this year.
Hogue made the announcement during the PacWest president’s meeting at Notre Dame de Namur University in San Francisco May 25-26. Dominican President Dr. Joseph R. Fink was on hand to hear the news. The university will receive a plaque commemorating their selection in June.
In 2009-10, the Dominican student-athlete advisory committee made several strides to build campus community while also reaching out to the surrounding areas.
The student-athletes felt it important to start in their own backyard by developing events aimed at getting other members of the Dominican student body involved. They welcomed the greater Marin community to be entertained and to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish foundation by supporting Dominican’s 10 athletic programs.
Dominican student-athletes raised the highest total of Make-A-Wish donations among all PacWest schools when the conference members reported totals at the league’s SAAC spring meetings in April.
Other community events included:
Junior Penguin Day 2009
In early May of 2009 Dominican invited children of various age levels to participate in a free sports camp during the first Junior Penguin Day. More than 50 children from nearby schools enjoyed basketball, lacrosse, soccer, softball, volleyball and lacrosse clinics hosted by Dominican student-athletes. Along with interacting with their favorite Penguin players, kids ranging from 5 to 17 enjoyed pizza and a dunk contest performed by the Dominican men’s basketball team. At the end of the day everyone left with a souvenir hat, shirt, ball or water bottle.
Spirit Day September 2009
On September 26, Dominican hosted three intercollegiate athletic events, mock classroom experiences, several guest speakers, the processions of class shields, and a speech from President Joseph Fink as a crowd of 1,200 showed up to celebrate the beginning of the school year as Spirit Day. The most exciting, but disappointing part of the event, was when the athletes finished a close second to the Alumni Association in the Spirit Song Sing-off that had several university groups sing their version of the school’s alma mater.
Midnight Mayhem 2009
More than 400 students packed the Conlan Center as the Penguin
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (PSAAC) presented Midnight
Madness to kickoff the basketball season.
The night began with free pizza in the Conlan Center lobby for the
first 100 students, provided by Pinky's Pizza. The crowd poured
into a dimmed Conlan Center gymnasium waving their gold rally
towels where a DJ spun live beats.
Nine of Dominican's athletics teams were in attendance (women's
volleyball was playing at the same time in Hawai‘i) and could
be seen out of their element as the clubs participated in
choreographed team dances. The cheerleading squad made its 2009-10
debut with an upbeat dance routine.
Fan participation highlighted the middle part of the night. Student
teams were required to participate in a relay race that included
spinning around, eating peanut butter, and making a lay-up. Drew
Bratsberg sank a half-court shot to take home an autographed Mike
Singletary football.
Other prizes included gift certificates to IHOP, Quiznos, Montecito
Plaza, Puentez Taqueria, Video Bob's Starbase, and The Counter.
When the clock struck midnight - the official start time for NCAA
basketball practice - the voice of the Penguins and the night's
emcee, Stuart Horne, introduced the 2009-10 men's and women's
basketball teams.
The night was capped off by a shootout between students and the Dominican basketball players and a dunk contest featuring the high flyers of the men's basketball team, won by fan favorite Xander McNally.
Haunted House
Dominican student-athletes participated in a haunted house on Oct. 27 as part of a community outreach event put on by the Associated Student Government on campus. Athletes from different teams comprised the 15 zombies that spooked Marin families as they toured through the old Meadowlands Mansion on campus.
Mr. Penguin 2010
Mike Wells, a 6-foot, 185-pound junior guard for Dominican University of California’s men’s basketball team, was named “Mr. Penguin 2010” in a light-hearted “beauty pageant” among 14 Dominican students.
Junior Ryan Vella from the men’s soccer team was named
first runner-up and athletic department intern David Morris was
named the second runner-up.
Wells apparently wooed the panel of six judges with his wit, charm
and good looks but not his talent. In the talent competition, he
and sophomore teammate Mark Lewis dueled in a “Wiffle
ball-and-woofing” contest.
Wells spun around five times on stage, whiffed on trying to hit a Wiffle ball into the audience, then competed against Lewis in contest involving chugging chocolate milk and licking the creamy center off an Oreo cookie.
Other talent acts included dance routines by men's basketball
players Alastair Flack and Alex Ward with Vella and the assistance
of men's soccer player Esera Vegas; lacrosse players Kyle Mitchell
and Reed Upson doing their best *NSYNC dance; Rafael Garcia dancing
with a ribbon and classmate Daryl Morris; “drawing” by
lacrosse captain Emmett Faricy - Faricy wrote his phone number down
for his fans in the audience to call; juggling by lacrosse player
Cam Evangelho; a singing-turned-crowd participation version of
Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing led
by soccer player Spencer Eckert; soccer's Casey Gibson’s
rendition of Pants on the Ground of American Idol fame; an acoustic
version of the Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses by intern
David Morris; and golfer Scotty Holdridge had the whole crowd
singing along while he sang and played acoustic guitar.
Roughly 300 people poured into Angelico Hall for the event that
helped raise more than $900 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Make-A-Wish for the Fans
Dominican University’s PSAAC put on a black-light themed dance in the Guzman Lecture Hall that helped raise $1,400 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The student-athletes hosted the event attended by more than 250 people as a way of thanking fans for their support throughout the year, while also making money for the foundation.
Spring Fest
On March 27, several Dominican student-athletes volunteered their celebrity and dryness by hopping in a dunk tank at Spring Fest put on by the Associated Students of Dominican University.
Patrons paid $1, donated to the American Cancer Association, for three chances to dunk athletes on a chilly spring day into even chillier water. The afternoon festivities also consisted of hot dogs, rock climbing walls, and jumping houses for children.
Additionally, Dominican athletic teams made a number of community engagement appearances throughout the year:
Every Sunday for eight weeks in the fall, the men’s lacrosse teams sent four student-athletes to the Ross Valley, Southern Marin and Central Marin recreational programs to give back to the community and form relationships with the children:
The team also split up into groups and picked up trash around campus and along the bordering streets in San Rafael, and held clinics in coordination with the Marin Lacrosse Club.
The men’s basketball team partnered with San Rafael High School, the Ross Valley Firefighter's Club, the San Anselmo Police Officer's Association, and the Fairfax Police Officer's Association for the Holiday Season Toy Drive game on December 19 that resulted in more than 200 toys being collected.
The women’s basketball team planted and cleaned up the Davidson Middle School garden and also was involved with partnering with the local Special Olympics.
The men’s and women’s soccer teams held skill camps with local youth soccer teams. The women’s volleyball team worked the local CYO and held clinics for local youth volleyball teams. The softball and tennis teams also had skills camps on their schedule.
