Kate Squires, Colorado College, Women's Volleyball

KATE SQUIRES OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a senior on the women's volleyball team from Dallas, Texas, has been selected the SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete-of-the-Week for the week ending November 4, 2012.

When the Colorado College volleyball team was struggling midway through the 2012 season, it was Squires who came to the rescue.

Squires, a senior who played on the right side throughout most of her career, had run the offense when an injury sidelined one of the Tigers’ other setters during preseason training. But with CC’s string of 14 consecutive NCAA appearances on the line, no one was better prepared than a certified emergency medical technician to step in and get her team back on track.

Since Squires took control of the offense in early October, the Tigers won 10 of 13 matches, earned a share of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference’s regular-season crown and won the postseason tournament for the third year in a row.

After leading CC to three-set victories over Austin College and Trinity University in the SCAC Championship, Squires was named to the seven-player all-tournament team.

But personal accolades are not nearly as important to Squires as doing whatever she can to help others in need.

In addition to her academic and athletic responsibilities this fall, she has served as a volunteer and intern at Colorado Springs’ Alano House, a facility that provides a sober living and treatment environment for people trying to overcome substance abuse.

When Squires returns home to Dallas, she volunteers at a community center located in one of the city's poorest and underdeveloped suburbs that sees only 17-percent of its kids graduate from high school. She helps children with their homework and with a summer program that keeps them engaged so their education levels do not drop when they are not in school.

Squires also has gone on numerous mission trips to disaster relief areas, worked with Habitat for Humanity and tutored at a local school.

“Community service has always been something that is required at every school I have attended,” she said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed the impact I have had on the community and how it has affected me.”

During her sophomore year at Colorado College, Squires combined her love of skiing and passion for helping others by participating in the adaptive ski program at Breckenridge Ski Resort.

After graduating in May with a degree in biology, Squires plans to take a year off before continuing her education at a physician’s assistant school. During that time, she hopes to work as an EMT in the Dallas area before travelling to either Africa or South America to serve in a clinic for a three-month period.