Mountain Hawks land in New Orleans

Student-athletes come to Lehigh for more than just athletics. They value their education and look to make a difference in the community. This past summer, eight Mountain Hawks made their mark on the national level. They traveled to New Orleans to aid in the Hurricane Katrina cleanup effort that the community continues to face eight years later.

Lehigh Athletics has a strong presence with SALSC. Student-Athletes Leading Social Change is a national organization with groups at campuses across the country.

As stated in its mission statement, "Student-Athletes Leading Social Change (SALSC) is a passionate coalition of current and former college student-athletes who are compelled to change the world on a local, national and international level."

Erica Prosser '11 (women's basketball), Jessica Miller '11 (field hockey), Angelo DiGiacinto '11 (men's swimming), Liz Lucas '13 (softball) and Anna Patterson '13 (women's lacrosse) have previously made trips with SALSC, traveling to places like Kenya and Ecuador.

Patterson, along with three current SALSC members (A.J. Visconti '15 of football, Shannon Nelson '15 of women's cross country and track and Carissa Zito '16 of softball) and four other Lehigh student-athletes took this summer's trip. They included Hilary Weaver '14 (women's basketball), Kris Abens '16 (women's lacrosse), Jen Markham '16 (women's cross country) and Arielle Weiner '16 (women's cross country).

"I'm a student-athlete mentor and the SALSC members asked the other leaders about this trip," said Visconti. "I didn't have too much on my plate in the summer, so I figured it would be a great experience to volunteer for a week."

The eight Mountain Hawks joined others from current SALSC member schools along with student-athletes from other interested schools who want to make a difference and change the world.

"In the beginning, we took a tour around New Orleans and they showed us all the houses that were still abandoned and destroyed from the storm," said Nelson. "I didn't really realize how long the reconstruction process would take."

"Within 10 minutes, there was a big rainstorm and the streets were already flooding. I couldn't imagine how it was during the hurricane," said Visconti.

The student-athletes began their week-long trip by helping rebuild an elementary school that was affected by Katrina. They helped paint the inside and worked on the outdoor furniture as well. There was a New Orleans native on the trip (from another school) who helped educate the group.

"She was telling us what it was like when Hurricane Katrina hit," said Nelson. "She explained there were four numbers on each house. One was the date, one was the crew that came in to save people, one was how many were dead and the last was how many were saved."

Helping at the school was a gratifying experience.

"We got to meet some of the teachers who worked there," said Zito. "They were very appreciative and said the kids were going to be really happy to get the school redone."

On the fourth day, the group went to a farm that employs special needs individuals who gain a sense of value by working on the farm.

"They get paid and are contributing, which is amazing," said Nelson. "You could tell they were really happy working on the farm every day."

"It was gratifying to see their faces so happy," said Zito.

"The farm is really important because many grocery stores never came back after Hurricane Katrina so people had to travel miles and miles for food," said Nelson. "A lot of people were getting sick because they were going to places that didn't have the freshest food. These farms were created so people wouldn't have to travel far to get their food."

The group wrapped up the trip by assisting in the recycling of beads.

"Beads are thrown every day. Most people think it's just on Mardi Gras, but they do it every night," said Nelson. "They import thousands and thousands of beads from China. They decide to save money and help with sanitation services by recycling them."

"The lady we worked with said they usually don't get this much done in one day," said Zito. "It was awesome to see all that work pay off."

The student-athletes also experienced other New Orleans destination points.

"We went on the alligator tour, went to Mardi Gras World and we checked out some historic places like Bourbon Street and French Quarter," said Visconti.

This was the culmination of a year-long fundraising effort to send student-athletes on a service trip. The Mountain Hawks fundraise in various ways, including a game called Asoxination which has become popular among student-athletes on campus.

"Everyone is assigned a target and gets a card with someone else's name on it," said Nelson. "They have to find that person and hit them with a sock. That means they're 'asoxinated'. The person who gets hit with a sock gives them their mission card so they have another person to attack. Whoever is in the longest and gets the most people 'asoxinated' wins."

It costs five dollars to play. A game like this was ultimately created to raise money for the summer trip.
Visconti wasn't an official member of SALSC when he signed up for the trip, but the experience was so worthwhile that he has since become a member.

"I came back with some ideas to help fundraise and get ready for next summer's trip," he said.

"It's a whole different culture there," continued Visconti. "These student-athletes from around the country all have similar interests. They all want to help the community. It's fun to be in a group like that."

The interest in SALSC is continuing to grow.

"With others seeing that so many people went to New Orleans, we're trying to expand," said Zito. "I know a lot of my teammates are trying to get in. We're doing a lot of work for Lehigh and on the international and national level as well."

"As a walk-on, I wanted to be part of the great football program here and wanted to have access to these kinds of opportunities," said Visconti. "Just being here, you have so many opportunities and you have the ability to do so many great things."

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