SAAC 9/21/03 Meeting Minutes

2003 - 2004 Officers:
President - Kate Jelus
Vice President - Ursula Henwood
Secretary - Ashleigh Campen
Community Service Coordinator - Chase Dunlop
Social Events Coordinator - Bobby Folan
Webmaster – Joel Legare

Dr. Bruening talked to the group about possible community service projects.

* all projects take place in Hartford *
1. City of Hartford Community Health Center - Pediatrics Clinic
- books have already been given to this group so we would be reading to the children
as they wait to go in for their appointments.
- out of season service, once a month commitment
2. Blue Hill Basketball Program
- will be helping more with life skills
- do not have to play basketball, asking more for guest speakers
- will be a mentor ship program for middle school students starting in Nov., once a month or as a guest speaker
3. Neighborhood Clean-up
- April 24th, 2004
- near one of the parks in Hartford
- if we help, the neighborhood will sponsor a picnic and then “open play” for the local kids and any athletes that would want to stay afterwards
* if your team is interested or you are, please talk to Kate Jules about signing up or talk to Dr. Bruening. *

Talent Show
   Will take place October 27th at 7 pm at Gample.
   Need to come to the October 19th meeting with your team’s skit name to get programs ready.
   Come prepared with ideas for possible judges.
A Few Rules for Teams (please pass onto the freshman)
   No attacking other teams!
   No messes, this includes candy being thrown, anything being sprayed, anything that can be spilt, etc.
   Tasteful jokes!

Community Service Projects
- Fan Fest is a great chance for your team to get involved with the community. As of right now Baseball will be working on October 4th, and Softball on October 25th. There is the possibility of Lacrosse working on November 1st, and Volleyball on November 8th. If you are interested in getting you team into this event, please contact Bill Shults or Kate Jelus. More than one team can be represented at a time.

- Food Drive on November 3rd and 8th. This event will be advertised before these dates, and will be taking place during a Men’s Basketball game and Women’s Basketball game. Fans will be bringing non-perishable items to the game to put into the bins. If possible, each team needs to be there to help collect items, and the days following the games to take the items to the soup kitchen.

- Breast Cancer Walk is taking place this weekend. An e-mail has been sent out to let everyone know the time, date, where to meet, and all other information.

Website
- Last year, the idea of a web site was brought up. We’re hoping to get that site up and running this year. Hopefully it will be attached to the UConn Huskies athletic site. We would like to have a bulletin-board for athletes to post notes to each other or questions up on. Community service projects will also be attached to this site, including a sign-up for each event and information. The student athlete handbook might be posted as well. Pictures of different events we have will be posted. If you have any other idea for this site please let us know. Joel Legare of the track team said that he would help out.

Monthly Speaker Ideas
*needs to be taken seriously and given lots of thought*

Ideas right now are: Parking Services rep., Dining Services rep., Sports Marketing rep. (finding out what they do for the teams), Nancy Rodriguez Nutrition rep., Sports Information rep. (finding out what they put on the web site), someone from the new Center for Undergraduate Services to find out what they will have to offer students, Res. Life has come in the past, and Susan Spiggle from the Business School.

- If you have anymore ideas please let us know or bring those ideas to the next meeting.

* Jeff Hathaway, the new Athletic Director, was at the meeting and took a little bit of time to talk to us. He told us that he hoped to use this group as a way to get ideas on how to make athletics better. His philosophy is that they are here for the 600 athletes, then the coaches, and the rest of the staff comes last. He has three goals which include: 1) student athletes graduating with a UConn degree, 2) giving the athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest level, and 3) that when we graduate that the experiences we had here allow us to become leaders in society.

Future Meetings: October 19, 2003
November 16, 2003
December 7, 2003 - Ice Cream Social
January 25, 2004
February 15, 2004
March 21, 2004
April 18, 2004 - PAAC / SAAC Dinner
May 2, 2004 - Ice Cream Social
*please mark in calendars*

If you know of any people on other teams that were not at the meeting or were not represented please ask them to come or bring ideas on how to get the other teams involved.