BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College is joining with schools across the country in celebration of NCAA Division III Week, which officially began on Monday, April 8th and runs through Sunday, April 14th. This second annual event will celebrate student-athletes' academic achievements and athletic accomplishments, in addition to their campus leadership and their involvement in community service.
The Greyhounds will be hosting its annual National Student-Athlete Day get together Thursday evening in Johnston Hall when all of Moravian's student-athletes will gather for Polish water ice and raffles. During the event, Moravian will honor its student-athletes that have earned All-Conference, All-Region, All-America and conference academic awards or won individual conference championships so far in 2012-13 as well as the community service projects the Greyhounds have completed.
Also on Thursday, a student-athlete from each team will be having lunch with selected faculty members to discuss what it takes to be a student-athlete in college.
"I am very proud of our student-athletes and of our athletic programs!" stated Moravian College President Christopher M. Thomforde, a member of the NCAA Division III Management Council, one of two presidents on the council. "Students who know how to compete in the classroom and on the playing fields with passion, coaches who are educators, training young men and women to be players, teammates, and responsible adults."
Moravian has been involved with the community service aspect of Division III Week for the entire academic year. The men's and women's basketball teams have participated in several Cops 'N Kids reading sessions at local elementary schools as well as the Dream and Believe Anti-Bullying event at Fountain Hill Elementary School in January. The football, women's soccer, men's basketball and women's basketball teams were part of Read Across America on February 28th and March 1st at two Bethlehem Area elementary schools, and the men's tennis team has gone to William Penn Elementary school to read. All of Moravian's women's team hosted a free clinic as part of the school's 40-year Celebration of Title IX in January.
Moravian's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee hosted a Special Olympics basketball tournament on March 23rd as part of NCAA Division III Special Olympics imitative, and SAAC also donated Christmas gifts to Turning Point again this year.
According to Moravian's Director of Athletics, Scot Dapp: "There is a high level of dedication and determination among our student-athletes in their respective sports. They take pride in their performance and strive to help their teams be successful. They are equally proud of their performance in the classroom and their involvement in numerous community service projects. The NCAA pinpoints this week to highlight Division III student-athletes and with over 360 students-athletes on our campus, Moravian College can be proud of what these young men and women bring to our college community."
The Greyhounds have also been active in raising money and awareness for cancer research again this year. The women's basketball squad finished first for the fifth straight year in the Kay Yow Cancer Fund Play 4Kay initiative with a total of $16,210 raised in 2013. The program has raised a total of $45,360 over the last five years. The field hockey, football and the men's & women's soccer teams hosted a Cancer Awareness games last October, and the men's basketball program had a Coaches Versus Cancer game this past February. The women's basketball, field hockey and women's soccer teams all participated in the Lehigh Valley Heart Walk last fall.
The women's soccer team has a clinic scheduled for Wednesday, April10th on the HUB Quad from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to benefit Griffin's Friends Children's Cancer Fund, and Moravian has also hosted a women's basketball clinic this year while the men's & women's track & field teams hosted William Penn for a clinic as well.
The football team will be hosting its fourth annual Be The Match – Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive on Wednesday, April 17th in Johnston Hall from 4 to 7 p.m. The Greyhounds have had 869 people register over the last three years including senior field hockey player Stephanie Pezzello, who was determined to be an exact match for a young leukemia patient last June and donated bone marrow in 2011, and sophomore cheerleader Rachel Knecht, who was an exact match for a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patient earlier in 2013.
For more information on the celebration of NCAA Division III Week, please visit http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/division+iii/division+iii+week.
