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.”
SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week |
|
Week 1 | Paige Duggins, Southwestern University |
Week 2 | Jamie Burns, Schreiner University |
Week 3 | Jennifer Kopetic, Texas Lutheran University |
Week 4 | Jaclyn Newell, Trinity University |
Week 5 | Sally Humphries, Austin College |
Week 6 | Catherine Dowgwillo, University of Dallas |
Week 7 | Kristen Liberty, Colorado College |
Week 8 | Kayla Thornhill, Centenary College |
Week 9 | Lauren Elliott, Southwestern University |
Week 10 | Kaitlyn Goertz, Schreiner University |
Week 11 | Christy Allen, University of Dallas |
Week 12 | |
Week 13 | |
Week 14 | |
Week 15 | |
Week 16 |