March 12, 2008

In an effort to highlight the leadership and good works of the student-athletes in the conference, the ACC SAAC began the SAAC in ACCtion initiative to provide on-line articles about the SAAC programs at the league's 12 member institutions. The goal of this initiative is to shed light on the great things our student-athletes are doing to affect significant positive change on campus and in our communities. Every two weeks, the SAAC leaders from a different school will provide a SAAC in ACCtion update on how their program is getting involved. When reading these articles, we hope that it is evident that their efforts to give back result in so much more.

"We take the Clemson student body, student-athletes and community as a whole and value it as a family." --David Newton
Clemson's SAAC Web Site A redshirt sophomore defender on the men's soccer team, David Newton is also the Promotions & Marketing Director of Clemson's SAAC, as well as a representative to the ACC SAAC. Newton took a few minutes to chat with theACC.com about SAAC's initiatives and his experiences. What is the overall goal of Clemson's SAAC? (Our SAAC is) guided by ethics, integrity, fairness and respect for diversity. Taking those things into account, we want to be leaders on the Clemson campus and be the voice for the student-athletes - not only on campus, but in the Clemson community by doing community service work and getting involved in the major decisions that have an impact on our student-athletes. That's what we're all about - that's our job and focus. How is Clemson's SAAC set up? We have a four-person executive board, with the president, vice-president, secretary, and what used to be called the Webmaster but was recently updated to be called the Promotions & Marketing Director - which is my position. Those four people make the final decisions for the entire SAAC. We (also) have an Orange Committee and a Purple Committee. We split the SAAC so half go into the Orange and half into the Purple. Each committee has its own major community service events that they work on throughout the year. We have two representatives from each team. One is selected by the coaching staff based on the values and ethics that they represent and the other member is voted on by the team. Schilletter Dining Hall Night What community service events do the committees do on a recurring basis? The Orange Committee does what's called the "Schilletter Dining Hall Night." Schilletter is one of the big dining halls on campus. What happens is the student-athletes go into the dining hall and serve the food for a night. Most of our student-athletes eat at Schilletter, so it's a way to give back to the people who work there and also a way to reach out to the entire student population. The Orange Committee's largest service event is the "Be a T.I.G.E.R." field day, (which is scheduled for) April 12th this year. Be a T.I.G.E.R. is actually headed up by the Solid Orange Squad, which is a community service board here at Clemson that works together with SAAC. It's a day where elementary and middle school kids in the area can come to campus and learn what it's like to be on an athletic team in college, but also the character and values that go with being on a team. T.I.G.E.R. is actually an acronym - T is "team," I is "integrity," G is "gratitude," E is "education," and R is "respect." Each participating team takes one of those letters and come up with an activity that highlights what that letter means. Almost 500 kids showed up last year and I think we're expecting even more this year. The Purple Committee does the canned food drive in the fall, which is coordinated with our student government. They start four weeks before the Clemson/South Carolina football game, which for anyone in South Carolina is the biggest football game of the year. It is a joint operation with USC where we're both raising and collecting cans together, but it ends up becoming a competition between the two schools. The SAAC takes charge of that and goes to the grocery stores and other places in the area to really drive that. Be a T.I.G.E.R. Day The Purple Committee also does the Thank-a-Thon in the spring, where they personally call all of our donors to thank them individually for what they do and give to us so that we have the opportunity to be student-athletes at Clemson. What event tends to be the favorite among student-athletes to participate in? Be a T.I.G.E.R. is obviously awesome because we have the kids coming in, which really makes it worth our while. We see the joy that they have on their faces when they come in and feel like a student-athlete for a day. I think everyone certainly enjoys that the most. Switching gears into student-athlete welfare, what issues is SAAC currently focusing on? One of the things that we really focused on at our meeting a few weeks ago (and since then) is the Academic Progress Rate (APR) and how to help our student-athletes retain eligibility. By understanding what the APR is, SAAC members are then able to go back out to their teams and help them understand how important it is. If you leave as a junior or a senior and don't complete the requirements that are necessary for boosting the APR rating for your team, then even though you've left your mark on Clemson, you leave a negative effect on the rest of the people that are coming up behind you. It's important for us because we're a voice among the student-athletes to educate our teams on what it means to have a good APR rating and to retain eligibility so that the athletes coming up will have the same opportunities that we had. Be a T.I.G.E.R. Day How did you get involved with SAAC? When one of the older players on my team graduated and left his position vacant, the team voted me on because they felt that my drive and values and the type of person I am fit what SAAC is all about. I knew that getting involved with SAAC was something that I would enjoy doing. When I came in, the position of Webmaster was vacant, so I applied for it and ended up getting it. So far, it's been a really cool experience. I've worked on completely restructuring our Web site and updating it, and was able to put my own style into it. (I want) people who don't know much about SAAC to be able to look on the Web site and see the type of things that we're doing and what we're all about. That way they don't think we're just a group of student-athletes who don't really do much - I think a lot of people don't understand that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. How do you think your time on Clemson's SAAC and the ACC SAAC will help you after graduation? One of the things that being on our SAAC and on ACC SAAC is all about is leadership. (Leadership) is not only important for an athlete, but is important for a citizen in general. One of the things that Ginty Porter, who heads up our SAAC, is really promoting is leadership training. (That entails) getting the captains from all of the teams, the freshmen, and the SAAC members together with a leadership trainer and have a day that develops leadership qualities. I think those are qualities I can take with me throughout the rest of my life, and (in the future) I can look back and think that this is when I really honed my leadership skills. If there was something you'd like the public to know about Clemson's SAAC or its student-athletes, what would it be? One of the things we always talk about at Clemson is being a family. We take the Clemson student body, student-athletes and community as a whole and value it as a family. We stand behind each other. It's funny, they say there's 'something in these hills', just something about Clemson University and being part of SAAC that's really special, and you don't know what it means until you're a part of it. It's said that in 30 years, we'll look back on Clemson and SAAC and think about how strong of a bond there was between everybody (because) they're all focused on a common goal. It's a special feeling, and that's something I would like everyone to understand. It's more than being a student-athlete and going to class every day, it's a whole lot more than that.