ROSEMONT STUDENT-ATHLETES LEND A HAND

LAUREL, Delaware- Eleven student-athletes from the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) traded in their field hockey sticks, baseball bats and tennis rackets for hammers, nails and paintbrushes as they participated in the second annual conference service trip with the Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. From Thursday, June 4^th to Saturday the 6^th, the group worked on two difference houses in Laurel, Delaware. Field hockey players Elizabeth Kemp (Jr/Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) and Elizabeth Goodwin (Fr./Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood Area) represented Rosemont. They joined nine other student-athletes from four other CSAC institutions. 

This is the second year the conference has joined Habitat for Humanity for its service project. Last year, 12 student-athletes traveled to York, Pennsylvania as part of the conference’s Year of Service. This year’s group was led by Centenary College Athletic Director Billie Joe Blackwell and Cedar Crest College Administrator Jen Woytach.

The student-athletes arrived on Wednesday evening at a local church in nearby Middlesboro which served as the group’s accommodations for the trip. Over the next four days, the group was up and at the sites by 8:45 a.m. Only breaking for lunch, they worked through until 2:30pm with several other volunteers on the project.. Some of the tasks assigned throughout the day included building scaffolding, installing cabinets, priming and painting walls and trim, and caulking wood frames and windows. They worked on two different houses in the four days.   

Returning back to the church, the student-athletes ate and showered in the evenings which took up to several hours with only two showers on the premises. Two of the evenings, the group had some fun and did some bonding with a trip to nearby Rehoboth Beach and bowling at a local alley.

On Saturday, after the final day or work, the student-athletes went their separate ways back to their homes exhausted and tired but filled with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment and a new found respect for their fellow conference athletes.

Of the experience Kemp said, “Habitat-for-Humanity was a fun and fabulous experience. I feel that this group accomplished so much work on the houses that needed help. Everyone worked well together to help with all the projects that needed to be done.”

Adds Goodwin, “Even though the weather wasn’t always sunny and nice, I was really awed by how well the group came together to make houses. I think it just shows how great all these teams are able to work together even though some may be rivals.

For more information on the CSAC and Rosemont College athletics, please visit our website at www.csacsports.org and www.rosemont.edu./athletics.