NORFOLK, Va., November 27, 2013 – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) conducted their annual workshop November 23-25, 2013 at the Sheraton Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Va.

The workshop is designed to bring student-athletes from MEAC member institutions together as one body to enhance leadership skills, participate in team building exercises, discuss NCAA legislation, explore hot topics, and share campus SAAC initiatives. The MEAC SAAC committee is a body made up of MEAC student-athletes whose intent is to provide insight on the student-athlete experience and offer input on rules, regulations and policies that affect student-athletes on NCAA member institution campuses. The SAAC also acts as the medium between student-athletes and campus administration.

MEAC SAAC President Aquanius Freeman, a Howard football student-athlete, explained to the group that the goal of the workshop is for the student-athletes to become empowered with knowledge to build better relationships on campus with teammates, the general student body, athletic staff, and faculty.

“I would like to give thanks to the MEAC for giving us, the student-athletes, the opportunity to get together to discuss things that are going on, on our respective campuses,” Freeman said. “The meeting was outstanding and it helped when you get all the SAAC’s together. Now we are all focused on what ideas we all have, and it was an opportunity to not just gain information for our personal life, but bring the information that we learned back to our schools.”

Freeman, a junior, is looking forward to returning to Howard and sharing information he learned at the SAAC meeting.

“One of the things we talked about here at the meeting that was very important was about professional development,” Freeman said. “At Howard, we not only want our students to be professional, but the student-athletes to be professional and that starts with networking, having a solid foundation, and building your resume.”

The group discussed their campus SAAC initiatives that included topics such as Breast Cancer Awareness fundraisers, student-athlete banquets, and raffles for tickets to the MEAC Basketball Tournament.

Monique Smith from Seeds of Empowerment, LLC, conducted a workshop to discuss topics and resources that student-athletes can use for their Professional Development Week. Dr. Carray Banks, the MEAC President from Norfolk State, discussed how student-athletes can use the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) as a resource.

Sami Hamad of the Norfolk Admirals and Ravenn Gethers from Old Dominion University got the biggest reception of the day as they took questions from student-athletes on professional development topics.

“It seemed like the longer we went, the more questions we received, and I was really appreciative of that,” Gethers said. “That is my gage on how successful a discussion usually goes. I found it very interesting that they were forthcoming enough to really start thinking about their future. I think students graduate and then it’s now what. But these students really seemed passionate about how their future will turn out.”

Petra Parros, a senior volleyball player at Hampton, enjoyed the interaction with the speakers and with fellow SAAC members.

“I think we had a lot of important stuff that was relevant to all of the schools,” Parros said. “Learning about the FAR and what the FAR does was outstanding. I have a relationship with our FAR, but I think a lot of the schools didn’t know they existed. Just hearing the ideas of what the other schools do for fundraising or Breast Cancer Awareness helped us get an idea and improve all our schools as a conference.”

The workshop resumed on Monday, November 25 with a meeting with MEAC Commissioner Dr. Dennis E. Thomas.

Thomas took questions from the student-athletes about MEAC Championships  and Sports Sponorships. He also spoke about life and making the best out of every situation.

“You are in college for a purpose,” Thomas said. “You are there for a reason. Everything is not going to be perfect and everything is not going to go your way. You are going to have to learn how to adjust and how to succeed when difficult circumstances don’t go your way. That’s what athletics teaches you. Having a positive attitude, good work ethic and working smart, will get you a long way.”

The student-athletes spent the last day of the workshop participating in a community service project with Keep Norfolk Beautiful. Keep Norfolk Beautiful is a program of the Norfolk Environmental Commission (NEC), a non-profit organization and a branch of the City of Norfolk Department of Public Works whose mission is to lead citizens toward environmental stewardship. During the volunteer experience, the MEAC SAAC members cleaned up the garden at the Ernie Morgan Center Park in preparation for winter.