LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Charlie Nunez of Schreiner University and Christy Allen of the University of Dallas have been selected as the SCAC Male and Female Character & Community Student-Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week ending Sunday, January 26.
The SCAC Character & Community award was created in 2009 to
honor and recognize the efforts of the
extraordinary student-athletes of the conference who not
only excel athletically on the field, course, court, pool or
track, but also by serving their campus and community.
To view past winners of the award, click here.
CHARLIE NUNEZ OF
SCHREINER UNIVERSITY, a junior guard
on the men's basketball team from El Paso, Texas, has been selected
the SCAC Character & Community Male Student-Athlete-of-the-Week
for the week ending Sunday, January 26.
During his three plus years in Kerrville, Nunez has become a model
student and major contributor throughout campus as well as the
community.
After a freshman season that saw him play in just one game, his
playing time increased immensely in 2012-13 as he was on the court
for 21 of 25 games and averaged 2.4 points. This winter, he’s
played in every game with similar results.
Off the court, the Psychology/Pre-Law major is in his third year
in Student Senate, was tabbed as a member for the prestigious
NetVue Committee, is a Schreiner Ambassador, is on the Student
Service Committee and serves as the men’s basketball team
representative for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He was
also selected for The Order, a group on campus charged with
creating and institutionalizing spirit and pride-based programs on
campus.
He’s a past participant in the Impact Leadership Group in
campus ministries as well as the Tobacco-Free Campus initiative.
He’s earned academic awards four times in his five semesters
and was Academic All-Conference in 2013.
He’s assisted in the community with Habit for Humanity, the
San Antonio Mobile Food Bank, CSI (Community Service Initiative):
Kerr County, has mentored in public schools in Kerrville ISD and
helped organize Schreiner’s Rally Day.
CHRISTY ALLEN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
DALLAS, a senior post on the women's
basketball team, has been selected the SCAC Character &
Community Female Student-Athlete-of-the-Week for the week ending
January 26, 2014.
Allen, a four-year letterwinner and Psychology major at the
University of Dallas, has been a leader both on the court and in
the community.
For the 2013-14 season, Allen has earned several Top 20 SCAC
rankings. Most notably, she is currently ranked first overall for
total rebounds (166) and offensive rebounds (65).
Off the court, Allen works with a number of different volunteer
organizations. Beginning in her freshman year of high school, Allen
participated with a group called “Challenge,” in which
she took a group of fifth-grade girls under her wing for four
years.
“We did all kinds of activities,“ Allen said,
“including laser tag, visiting nursing homes, bible studies,
and group workouts. My job as their team leader was to be a role
model and help the girls through what can be some confusing
years.”
In her senior year at St. Thomas More Academy (Burton, Mich.),
Allen and a few other girls from her high school traveled to some
of the most poverty-stricken parts of Mexico. It was there that
they spent a week building homes, playing with children, helping
make local food, and evangelizing the people.
“It was a great trip, that opened my eyes to the need of the
world and the privileges we take for granted in the United
States,” Allen said. “The simplest things -- like being
able to wash my hair everyday -- suddenly seemed like a huge
luxury.”
Allen, however, did not stop there in doing her part. Following
her junior year at the University of Dallas, she toured regions of
Haiti on a mission trip. The purpose was to deliver shoes, soap,
toys, clothes and water to those in need.
“I held sick and malnutritioned babies, and helped feed and
keep them clean,” Allen said. “It was a shocking
experience to see what it means to be truly hungry.”
In summer 2013, Allen worked as a math and science teacher to
seventh-grade Dallas inner-city kids as part of a college readiness
program.
“The program was a summer camp that lasted five
weeks,” Allen said, “where the kids were exposed to
academic material from the previous year and many different
careers, majors, and colleges that were attainable.”
This past fall, in an effort to get the Lady Crusaders involved
with her passion for helping others, Allen organized and required
– as the team’s lone senior – that they
participate in a Hearts and Hammers project to help repair homes in
Dallas.
“I think it is important to be reminded, every so often,
that we live in a very desperate world,” Allen said,
“and that our privileges can be used to help people overcome
being victim of circumstance.”