Courtesy: SEC Sports
Women’s Release
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (February 20, 2024) – The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 21 league sponsored sports. The Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. The 2024 SEC Women’s Swimming & Diving Community Service Team is as follows:
Liberty Williams, Senior, Alabama
A leader both in and out of the pool, Williams has made an immediate impact on the Tuscaloosa Community in her first semester with the Alabama swimming and diving team. Throughout her time at Alabama, she has collaborated with Big Brother Big Sister, volunteering with the organization on four separate occasions between November and December. Additionally, Williams volunteered at the West Alabama Food Bank, organizing and preparing meals to go out into the community. She has also spent time serving at University Place Elementary.
Reilly Shaner, Senior, Arkansas
Shaner has worked with several programs in Fayetteville, including Burn Boot Camp as well as EMPOWER, a four-year, non-degree college life program for people with intellectual disabilities. She has volunteered for the NWA Children’s Hospital Family Day and the Tyson Food Truck, where she helped with loading and delivery of food to NW Arkansas food banks. Shaner has also spent her time working with Shop with the Razorbacks and Empower Mentor @ HPER. Shaner serves as the SAAC Community Engagement Chair.
Lexie Mulvihill, Junior, Auburn
Mulvihill has spent nearly just as much time volunteering as she has in the pool at Auburn. In fact, she has split time across six different projects this year, totaling more than 115 hours of community service. Mulvihill has spent more than a quarter of those hours with the Bust Buddies foundation, fostering opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development and inclusive living for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She has spent more than 50 hours helping the Keys to Kindness program of Alabama, multiple efforts with the East Alabama Food Bank, the Giving Hope as well as the Big House Foundation of Alabama. Partnering with the Auburn College of Human Sciences, Mulvihill has also spent numerous hours with Project Uplift, offering volunteer services to Lee Country Children at no cost to their families.
Olivia Peoples, Junior, Florida
Majoring in the medical field, Peoples has totaled over 140 hours as a Volunteer Medical Assistant at Ageless Medical Solutions where she does various tasks for the nursing staff in their day-to-day operations to improve the quality of patient care. She has put her art graduate degree to practice as well, having spent over 80 hours cast painting at UF Health OSMI.
Elizabeth Isakson, Sophomore, Georgia
Only in her second year in Athens, Isakson has engaged in numerous community service projects through her work as a team representative to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In December 2023, she organized a group of teammates to deliver Christmas letters to senior citizens living at the Presbyterian Village retirement community in Athens. For MLK Day of Service in both 2023 and 2024, Isakson represented the women’s swimming and diving team in community service projects, including cleaning up the Stonehenge neighborhood last month. She shopped for the Boys & Girls Club for Christmas 2022 and helped organize the 2022 Special Olympics prom, along with packing blessing bags for the United Way and volunteering with Books for Keeps helping local school children have access to books. Along with her community service projects, Isakson served as a volunteer coach at the Jack Bauerle Bulldog Swim Camp in summer 2023. She volunteers in her spare time with the UGA Sports Communications office to help with media relations at various sporting events. Isakson also serves as a small group leader/teacher for second graders at Athens Church.
Tori Orcutt, Senior, Kentucky
Orcutt has totaled nearly 700 hours of community service while at Kentucky, including over 100 hours since the start of the 2023-2024 academic year. She has spent time helping at Southland’s Children’s Ministry, Amachi, God’s Pantry, local elementary schools and more. Orcutt also created the Christmas Miracles project at UK, helping to bring the Christmas experience to local families in need for two years. She is a two-time Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree and was named to the 2020-21 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll. Serving as a team captain this season, Orcutt is also member of the Air Force ROTC program at Kentucky.
Sierra Smith, Senior, Missouri
Smith has accumulated over 180 hours of service working with the City of Columbia and Columbia Public Schools. She has volunteered at Turning Point, a program at the Wilkes Boulevard United Methodist Church whose mission is to restore hope and dignity to those experiencing homeless. There, Smith spent numerous hours in the mail room, participating in the program’s encouragement group, and other areas of the program. She also spent multiple days with Swim Across America, the Show-Me State Games, and the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri. In addition, Smith spent time with the Crossing Church, helping with the Prayer Shawl Ministry and serving as a Sunday school teacher for the youth ministry. She is a two-time member of the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll and was named to the 2020-21 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Paige Collins, Junior, South Carolina
Collins led South Carolina’s team in community service hours this season with nearly 90 hours going into the spring semester. She cites her favorite activity as the “Sandstorm Buddies” event, where she along with other University of South Carolina student-athletes visit the local Prisma Health Children’s hospital and read to patients in their care. Collins primarily works with the 5-6 year olds and volunteers at the hospital weekly. In addition, she also attends local elementary schools to read with their students. Another one of Collins’ favorite activities is volunteering at the Therapy Place, where she aids children with special needs with their physical therapy, occupational therapy, and language pathology. She attends the Therapy Place twice weekly. One of her most notable events while working at the Therapy Place was hosting a booth at the clinic’s Truck or Treat event in which Collins and her teammates decorated their car to give out candy and played holiday games with the patients. She is also the team liaison for the Team Impact program in which South Carolina athletics programs partner with children with long term medical disabilities to make them honorary members of the team and coordinate activities for the children to do with the team. Similarly, she is also a part of South Carolina’s Dream on 3 group that fundraises and uses those funds to provide experiences to children with disabilities. This year, the group provided a child with his dream weekend in which he was able to attend a South Carolina football game.
Margaret Marando, Senior, Tennessee
Marando has been active in the Knoxville community ever since stepping foot on campus. A member of the SEC Community Service Team for the second year in a row, she boasts 63.5 service hours during her four years on Rocky Top. During the 2021-22 academic year, Marando was a member of the VOLeaders Academy, which was developed to cultivate positive student-athlete leaders through sport to create positive social change. Her time with the program concluded with a cultural exchange trip to Rwanda, where she applied leadership skills and participated in service opportunities focused on community development and social change. However, it was a decision to volunteer at a Project Life Movement event in 2022 that ended up being her most impactful. After getting her cheeks swabbed, the organization reached out to her about being a match for a four-year-old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The deadly disease required an intensive operation to collect bone marrow from Marando, but the choice to donate was an easy one and saved a life. She has since continued to volunteer with the organization to tell her story and promote the impact of being a potential donor. Marando is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection for her work in the classroom as an architecture major.
Payton Props, Senior, Texas A&M
Props has collaborated extensively with local elementary schools to volunteer with REVved Up To Read, where she spent time reading books to young elementary students. She has participated in The Big Event, the largest one-day, student-run service project where Texas A&M students spend the entire day helping local residents in need with yard work, painting, or moving furniture. Props has also volunteered at the BCS Together Fall Festival and Swim Special Olympics. She completed the Brand U Professional Development program in the Fall of 2023 and was a Peer Mentor for Texas A&M’s First Year Experience Hullabaloo U Program.
Gabriela Pierobon Mays, Senior, Vanderbilt
Pierobon Mays is a leader in the community among the members of the Vanderbilt swimming program, having volunteered as a counselor for a crisis text line as well as with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center emergency room. She has taken the time to tutor a local foster child and has served as a fundraising volunteer for the Nashville Dolphins swim club as well. Pierobon Mays has also been a leader within the Vanderbilt athletic department for the Dance Marathon Big Event, the school’s largest student-run philanthropic organization whose efforts benefit the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital. Pierobon Mays was a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selection in 2023, and she has made the SEC Academic Honor Roll each of the last two years after being named to the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll as a freshman.
Men’s Release
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (February 20, 2024) – The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 21 league sponsored sports. The Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. The 2024 SEC Men’s Swimming & Diving Community Service Team is as follows:
Blake Peeples, Senior, Alabama
With a passion for helping others, Peeples has tallied over 444 hours of community service. He created Tuscaloosa’s first memory cafe for people with dementia, UA’s first national chapter of the Youth Movement Against Alzheimer’s and serves as the co-director for Connect for Christ, an adult daycare program at Christ Episcopal Church all while being involved in Hospice of West Alabama and Caring Days Adult Day Care. Additionally, Peeples worked with Aspire Nursing Home, Glen Haven Nursing Home, Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama and Home-In-Place. He has also volunteered his time with Habitat for Humanity, Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter and Good Samaritan Clinic. In addition to his time helping those in the community, Peeples has maintained a 4.0 GPA in psychology and serves as a research assistant and coordinator for three research labs on campus.
Andrew Simmons, Junior, Auburn
Simmons has spent more than 200 hours this year alone at the Mercy Medical Clinic in Auburn, donating his time to perform various tasks. He has also volunteered more than 30 hours of his time at the Big House Foundation of Alabama. Since the beginning of the year, Simmons has also helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity, launched campaigns for the East Alabama Food Bank and helped at a Hispanic Health Event in Lee County. In total, he has volunteered for more than 300 hours of community service.
Skip Donald, Fifth-Year, Florida
Donald has worked with the Brandon Ling Memorial Sports camp, where he played soccer, basketball, volleyball and football with kids who have cancer, have survived cancer, or is a sibling of a cancer patient. During the fall, he helped with the setup for Abiding Savior Lutheran Church’s annual Pumpkin Patch, which serves as the main fundraiser for the church’s youth group each year. Most recently, Donald wrapped presents at the Gator Tracks Wrapping Party. Gator Tracks begins to collect shoes from student-athletes, staff, coaches and administration from the UAA, socks and monetary donations and when everything is collected, the annual wrapping party is held to wrap and organize as many as 500 pairs of shoes.
Jackson Bates, Junior, Georgia
Bates has participated in numerous community service projects during his time at the University of Georgia. He currently serves as a team representative to the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has collaborated with local elementary schools to introduce the sport of swimming and the Bulldogs’ swim team. In January, Bates participated in MLK Day of Service by cleaning up a local conservation land area. He has also volunteered with the Athens Homeless Shelter to provide meals for residents, helped “stuff the truck” with the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, and assisted with the organization of the annual Special Olympics Prom. As the team’s designated Community Service Tracker, Bates gathered teammates to assist at the 2023 Clarke County Halloween Mentoring Event, as well as assembling furniture and cleaning the store for Athens Habitat for Humanity. He has served as a SAAC team representative for the past two seasons. Bates volunteered as a coach at the Jack Bauerle Bulldog Swim Camps in each of the past two summers. He was named to the 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team for Swimming & Diving.
Zane Rosely, Senior, Kentucky
Rosely has worked extensively with Golfview Estates Neighborhood Association, assisting with neighborhood cleanup and delivering welcoming kit to new residents. He has also collaborated with God’s Pantry, a local food bank in Lexington, the Salvation Army and the Ronald McDonald house. Rosely, a team captain, has twice landed on the CSCAA Academic All-America First Team.
William Whittington, Junior, Missouri
Whittington has attended several events throughout the school year. He has worked with Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) in Jefferson City, where he helped conduct basketball tournaments for SOMO’s athletes. Whittington also assisted in the preservation efforts on the Hinkson Creek Trail, one of the most used trailheads in Columbia. Other community service opportunities that he presided in includes Swim Across America, Meals On Wheels, and The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri. Whittington is a member of the 2022-23 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Youssef Bahgat, Sophomore, South Carolina
Bahgat led South Carolina’s men’s team in community service hours this season and already has over 110 hours under his belt in just two years with the program. He cites one of his favorite volunteer activities as his work with the Gamecocks Aiding Refugees group that works in conjunction with the Carolina Survivor Clinic. Through this organization, Bahgat visits a family of refugees from Afghanistan weekly and works with a set of twin brothers to help them learn English. He also works with the Generation Gamecock Mentoring Program where he attends a local underprivileged middle school twice weekly for two weeks out of the month. There, Bahgat develops relationships with the students and collaborates specifically with a refugee student to make him feel more comfortable in the classroom. He also teaches a remote Sunday School weekly at the Islamic Center of Columbia. Additionally, Bahgat also is a part of South Carolina’s Dream on 3 group that fundraises and uses those funds to provide experiences to children with disabilities. This year, the group provided a child his dream weekend in which he got to attend a South Carolina football game. Bahgat was also a participant at the Gamecock Games where South Carolina student-athletes visit the Therapy Place clinic and have a day full of activities for the patients there. In addition to his community service, Bahgat is also the philanthropy chair of the Arabs Student Association as well as the secretary of the Muslim Student Association. He is also a member of the South Carolina honors college where he is pursuing a major in biology and a minor in business administration.
Joseph Jordan, Senior, Tennessee
Throughout his time on Rocky Top, Jordan has compiled 45 hours of community service. He has participated in events ranging from reading to elementary school children to helping create Halloween treat bags at local schools. During the 2021-22 academic year, he was a member of the VOLeaders Academy, which was developed to cultivate positive student-athlete leaders through sport to create positive social change. His time with the program concluded with a cultural exchange trip to Rwanda, where he applied leadership skills and participated in service opportunities focused on community development and social change. Jordan is a two-time member of the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Shawn Mohseni, Sophomore, Texas A&M
Mohseni has excelled in giving back to his community by recording 53 service hours. He has spent most of his time working with student-led organizations around the Bryan-College Station area. Mohseni participated in REVved Up to Read as he volunteered to read to elementary school students around the area, as well as TAMU Build where he assisted in building Texas Aggie Medical Clinics as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire incident. Mohseni has also donated and worked with AggiesCAN, the largest student-athlete volunteer run canned food drive in the nation. He has recently volunteered with the Aggieland Humane Society where he has cared for sheltered dogs and assisted staff. Mohseni has worked with TeamIMPACT, an organization that pairs children facing serious illness with a college to provide an opportunity to compete in athletic events, as well as with Special Olympics Texas and Sport For Kids Sports Fest. He is a SAAC representative and completed the Brand U Professional Development Program in the fall of 2023.