Playing in the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference. Maintaining high marks in the classroom. Seeking career-launching internships.

The time management skills required of the student-athletes on campus are impressive, but despite those obligations, many student-athletes prioritize giving back to the community that cheers them on to victory through service projects.

With Thanksgiving approaching, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is once again partnering with Wegmans to provide between 300 and 400 turkeys to families in need around the holidays.

Anna Rupert ’26 has participated in the drive for the last two years and says it is especially important for her to spread some holiday cheer and help people enjoy a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving.

“It’s amazing to see how this act can impact someone’s life. Service creates bonds and creates friendships. Through service, we become more well-rounded, holistic leaders on campus,” says Rupert, a member of the women’s soccer team studying economics (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs) and philosophy (College of Arts and Sciences).

Setting a Positive Example

The turkey drive is just one of the ways Orange student-athletes are supporting the community through service.

Rupert and some of her teammates also volunteer at the Central New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, playing with and taking dogs for walks at the shelter.

“Volunteering is about setting an example of what it looks like to be a student-athlete,” says Rupert, vice president of SAAC. “Once our student-athletes are out in the community, they’re able to see how their efforts are making a difference. We are leading by example and showing what it means to represent Syracuse.”

Service Fuels Holistic Development

The importance of community service was instilled in Sydnie Waller ’27 from a very early age. When she was 5 years old, Waller remembers accompanying her parents, DarKenya and Sean Waller, to food banks near their home in Nashville, Tennessee.

When Sydnie first arrived on campus as a member of the women’s volleyball team, she sought ways to give back to the community. Those efforts have included reading to and playing games with area school children, and serving up hot meals, sorting food and washing dishes at food banks.

Through her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, Waller is also involved in three different food-based community service projects leading up to Thanksgiving.

“I volunteer because I have the ability to give back and I’m trying to do something to make a change,” says Waller, a marketing major in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. “We all have an obligation to our community. It’s important to look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and know that you made a difference with the time you had.”

A Role Model for Children

Whenever Angelica Velez ’27 and her women’s basketball team play inside the JMA Wireless Dome, they know the Central New York community is rooting for them. Children from the Syracuse Central School District and other elementary, middle and high schools can always be found in the stands.

Velez says the team relies on that support to transform the Dome into the “Loud House,” and knowing how much the community shows up for the team fuels her service efforts.

Last year, after transferring from Louisiana State University, Velez spent roughly 80 hours volunteering, giving back to the Syracuse Rescue Mission and the Food Bank of Central New York, preparing meals at the Samaritan Center and making care packages for children.

“Giving back brings me joy. I really enjoy being able to impact somebody else’s life,” says Velez, a communication and rhetorical studies major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

“I can be a role model for the kids in the community. For them getting to know me on a personal level is humbling and allows me to grow as a leader because I understand the impact we’re having through service.”

Giving Back What They Have Received

The SAAC features students from every intercollegiate athletics team coming together to make a difference on campus and in the community through professional development and networking opportunities, cultural celebrations and community outreach.

Within SAAC, the Community Outreach Committee connects interested student-athletes with more volunteer opportunities in the community. Opportunities exist to assist those facing homelessness through a partnership between the Samaritan Center and We Rise Above the Streets.

Last spring, during Sandwich Saturdays, Emma Klein ’25, G’27 would spend three hours making sandwiches and distributing them to Central New Yorkers. Hoping to entice others to join in, Klein sent out texts in the team’s group chat. She was amazed at how quickly her teammates answered the call to assist. Soon there were seven to eight of Klein’s teammates handing out sandwiches.

“Seeing the impact we can have on our community was really touching. You don’t realize that the littlest things mean the world to someone,” says Klein, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and is pursuing a master’s in engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “I’m grateful and fortunate for everything the Syracuse community has given me. I want to be able to give back what I have been given.”