The PVC proudly announced at its 15th Annual PVC Awards Banquet that two groups, representing the field hockey, women’s basketball and men’s soccer teams, will receive grant funding for their own community-based events.
In early March, Amanda Bird ’14, Christina Maida ’14, Allegra Mango ’14, Kelsey Byrne ’14 and Dylan Bowman ’14 joined a group of student-athletes at the Monument School in Trenton as part of the PVC’s “Reading with the Tigers” program. While there, the group read to Kindergarten through fifth grade students and discussed the importance of doing well in school to their own success. Their proposed event, “Monumentors” represents an extension of their experience that day. The group plans to return to the school on a regular basis this fall, to build much-needed mentor-menteerelationships with the students through reading, arts, and athletic activities.
During the summer of 2011, the women’s basketball team took their international trip to the Republic of Senegal. While there, they visited Vivre Ensemble, an orphanage in the remote village of Mbour. The experience resonated with several members of the team, including Nicole Hung ’14, Lauren Polansky ’13 and Jordyn Seni ’14, who plan to raise money to benefit the orphanage through their own on-court performance via their proposed program “Assists for Africa.” Their goal is to support the orphanage in a tangible way – examples may include purchasing malaria nets or food supplies.
Begun in 2010, the PVC Service Circle is designed to provide leadership opportunities for Princeton student-athletes. Manny Sardinha ’12 (Soccer) and Kendra Simon ’13 (Tennis) were the first recipients of PVC Service Circle grant funding, implementing theircommunity service initiatives in the fall and winter semesters, respectively.
Sardinha, along with his men’s soccer teammates, arranged a fundraiser around the team’s home game against Columbia. The group sold commemorative t-shirts and held a halftime penalty kick competition, raising almost $2,000 for the A-T Children’s Project (www.atcp.org). The event also supported Derek’s Dreams, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T), a degenerative disease that affects children beginning around age two (www.dereksdreams.com).
Simon used her grant funding to support Teams & Toys, an annual holiday gift drive held by Athletes in Action (www.athletesinaction.org). Student-athletes representing nearly every varsity team on campus “adopted” a local family, purchased gifts for the family, then joined a gift-wrapping party at Frist Campus Center. The presents were then distributed at an event held by Community House to 150 local children.
