PBC Second in DII Community Engagement Awards
INDIANAPOLIS, IND – The Peach Belt Conference finished second in the nation for the NCAA’s Division II Community Engagement Award of Excellence for 2009-10. The league won the runner-up award for its annual PBC Art Show and Spirit Day Competition, held in conjunction with the PBC basketball tournament in Aiken, S.C. Benedict College won the first-place award.
“This is a great honor for the league,” said PBC Commissioner David Brunk. “The Vice Presidents and Vice Chancellors of Student Affairs at all of our member schools do so much work to make sure that this is a great event for the participants and fans. It’s also a testament to the tremendous effort that USC Aiken gives to this event that makes it so successful.”
In conjunction with the Peach Belt Conference men’s and women’s basketball championships, the Art Show and Spirit Day Competition placed community and campus engagement at the forefront of the conference basketball championship. The Spirit Day competition took place on PBC Semifinal Saturday, with team and individual awards presented to each winning team. Along with the Spirit Day Competition, the PBC Art Show was open for the duration of the tournaments in the arena. Twenty-five students and 18 faculty members contributed. Fans could browse the art show while the basketball games were being played, at halftime or between games.
Rich Luker is a community-engagement consultant for the NCAA, and was part of the judging panel. ““The thing I like the most is that the conference and the schools are working together and beyond sports in a way that will encourage all the schools in the conference to be more community oriented,” he said.
Other community-engagement awards were presented to Texas A&M International, Upper Iowa, Grand Canyon, Lynn, Newberry, Fairmont State and Lewis Universities.