Oct. 17, 2007

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're not just here to be athletes, but we're also here to represent our school in a positive way and to give back to our community. A lot of people think that athletes just come to play sports. I think that we're doing our best to make sure they know that it's different. The University has done so much for us, so we want to be thankful and give back." -- Drew Weaver
Virginia Tech's SAAC Web Site Junior golf player Drew Weaver is one of Virginia Tech's two representatives to the ACC SAAC and is very active within Tech's own chapter. Weaver took a few minutes to chat with theACC.com about SAAC's initiatives and his experiences. What is the overall goal of Virginia Tech's SAAC? Our overall goal is to be more well-known on campus and be really campus-oriented with everything that we do. We address issues that players have between coaches and the department. Jordan Hall and Ashley Owens, East Carolina banner signing We're pretty much a liaison between coaches and the athletes. We also help the athletes stay up-to-date with NCAA rulings, changes, and different things like that. SAAC strives to be a good communicator with the student-athletes. How is your SAAC set up? We have five committees - Social, Marketing, Hokies Respect, Policies & Procedures, and Community Outreach. The social committee does things like the Homecoming float that we had this year and organizes the student-athlete formal. The marketing committee puts out a newsletter that goes around all the locker rooms and gets word out about different promotions going on in the athletic department. The Hokies Respect committee helps out with recognition and human relations. One of the things they have done so far this year is make a banner for East Carolina to thank them for the donation they made to the Memorial Fund. (They donated when they were here for the first football game of the season.) We just try to do things like that and do it in a positive way. What are the recurring programs or events that SAAC runs? We have our student-athlete formal. I don't know how unique that is, I'm sure other schools have them, but it's a great opportunity for all the athletes to get together. We did a Homecoming float for the first time this year. It was really neat and we got a lot of exposure there. We do autograph nights at the local elementary school. We also help out with the Montgomery County Christmas Store. It's a place for underprivileged families to go and have an opportunity to get toys for their kids for Christmas, and meals are also served. What big events are planned for this year? Probably the biggest one is the canned food drive during the Virginia Tech/Virginia basketball game. It's been a tradition for us every year. It not only gives us a chance to compete against UVa - which everyone loves to do - but it's a great cause and helps out a lot of people who really need it. This year, we're also working with the Relay for Life at Virginia Tech, which is pretty new for us. We're also doing a toy drive between our brother and sister teams, which is around the time of the Christmas Store. SAAC at Homecoming: Bryan Collier and Jessica Botzum on the Homecoming court. What are you working on now or starting to work on soon? We just finished the Homecoming activities - the float and promoting the two athletes (Bryan Collier and Jessica Botzum) on the Homecoming court. That was about two or three weeks ago. We're starting to transition to the Christmas Store and toy drive. For the Christmas Store, we usually send over some people to help get things started in mid- to late-October. At that point, we help in getting everything organized and getting the toys separated into the different age groups. When the store opens, we'll send over more people to help with the food and whatever else they need. Right now, we're getting the logistics figured out for that. We also have an Autograph Night this week, so we're working on that too. Heather Hallberg, Christmas Store What events or programs tend to be the favorite among the student-athletes? Probably the Christmas Store. We all really enjoy going and helping out with that. It gets everyone in the holiday spirit. How did you personally get so involved with SAAC? I've been a member for two years. I didn't think much about it a couple of years ago, but it's been neat to go out and experience what SAAC does and help develop the outreach programs that help the community. That's something that I really like to do. I also enjoy being in the know of what's going on in the athletic department and being able to help my team know what's going on too.