Courtesy of Purdue Northwest Athletic Communications
HAMMOND, Ind. & WESTVILLE, Ind. – In preparation for the 2018-19 academic year, the Purdue Northwest Student-Athlete Advisory Committee recently determined its new officers, which were elected by current committee members.
Cynthia Basu-Chavez (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville), who will be a senior on the Pride women's tennis team next season, will serve for the second straight year as SAAC President. Brendan Kelly (Grandville, Mich./Muskegon JC/Grandville), who enters his senior season on the PNW baseball team in 2018-19, becomes the new SAAC Vice President taking over for Salvador Cordova (Hammond, Ind./Bishop Noll), who graduated this May.
Men's tennis player Moritz Gisy (Duesseldorf, Germany) becomes the new SAAC Secretary/Treasurer for his senior year next fall replacing junior baseball player Austin Kordik (West Chicago, Ill./Community), while women's golfer Meaghan Spalla (Crown Point, Ind./Boone Grove) continues her role as SAAC's Community Service Chair for her junior year. Marissa Jayne (Hartland, Mich./Hartland), a senior next fall on the PNW women's soccer team, will serve as SAAC's Social Media Chair for 2018-19.
In Purdue Northwest's first year competing at the NCAA Division II level and within the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), SAAC held a number of special events to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, along with a wide variety of community service projects throughout the school year. Through 3v3 basketball tournaments, a soccer tournament, a dodgeball tournament, Miracle Minutes during Pride home athletics events and a Week of Wishes campaign, SAAC raised $3,335.42 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation throughout the 2018-19 academic year. The amount was nearly three times the amount the committee raised the previous year ($1,200)!
"As an entire student-athlete population, we saw a lot of growth in coming together this year, especially when it came down to community service and raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation," said Basu-Chavez. "Our goal at the beginning of the year was to raise $2000 for the cause, which at the time seemed like it would be very difficult to obtain. However, this year each SAAC representative was very committed, dedicated and worked hard to help us raise over $3,300 for Make-a-Wish. The long-term goal for SAAC is to raise enough money to sponsor a Wish, which means raising almost $10,000."
"I'm really proud of everyone who was involved in SAAC and with Purdue Northwest Athletics this past year," echoed Cordova, the 2017-18 SAAC Vice President. "Raising this money is such an incredible accomplishment for us and so beneficial for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I'm just thrilled that I was able to be a part of this great organization and I hope PNW SAAC continues to make a positive impact on the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Purdue Northwest as a whole."
