LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Jeremy Swisher of Austin College and Caila Criss of Colorado College have been selected as the SCAC Male and Female Character & Community Student-Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week ending Sunday, June 15.
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.
JEREMY SWISHER OF AUSTIN COLLEGE, a
freshman on the men's basketball team from The Woodlands, Texas,
has been selected the SCAC Character & Community Male
Student-Athlete-of-the-Week for the week ending June 15, 2014.
Swisher has been active in the community both since arriving at
Austin College and at home, in addition to having been named an
All-Conference performer in men’s basketball for his freshman
season. Among the community service activities he’s
participated in at Austin College, he’s an active member of
Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity that completes 30 hours of
work in the community each semester. In addition to that, Swisher
is an active member of the Student Athlete Advisory Council,
through which he’s participated in several community service
events including a pair of Special Olympics events during the
spring semester.
Through Alpha Phi Omega, he’s participated in community car
washes and trash pickups, and within the SAAC at the Special
Olympics, he volunteered to help coach, time, and support the
athletes who participated in the events. Prior to arriving at
Austin College, Swisher participated in the National Charity
Roundtable for two years, and would regularly complete 30 hours of
community service work each year. He also was active in Mission
Week, which enabled him to travel to Galveston, Texas, as part of
Galveston Urban Ministries, where he helped in the community by
building fences, mowing lawns, painting walls, building sheds, and
giving aid to the homeless.
Swisher has also been active in working with youth basketball
players through the ISTI Basketball Academy, where he’s
served as a trainer and helped to instruct players between the ages
of 8-16 to develop their skills, and during his high school days he
also served as a mathematics tutor through the organization Mu
Alpha Theta.
CAILA CRISS OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a
senior on the women's tennis team, has been selected the SCAC
Character & Community Female Student-Athlete-of-the-Week for
the week ending June 15, 2014.
Whether on the court, in the classroom, or in a myriad of
on-campus situations, Criss has been a teacher and a leader
throughout her college experience.
Assisting others comes naturally for Criss, who first volunteered
with groups that provided support for people with special needs in
her hometown of Boulder, Colo.
She began by teaching life skills and basic math to high school
students with severe developmental disabilities through the Boulder
Valley School District, and then joined the City of Boulder Parks
and Recreation EXPAND Program and worked with a physically disabled
3-year-old boy in his weekly gymnastics class.
One activity that Criss loves as much as volunteer work is tennis,
and the opportunity to continue her career at the collegiate level
was one of the reasons she chose to attend CC.
Criss made an immediate impact with the Tigers during her freshman
campaign, winning six matches at No. 4 singles and nine at No. 3
doubles. The next year, after moving up a spot in the lineup, she
recorded career highs of 10 singles victories and 13 in
doubles.
As a junior, Criss posted winning ledgers in both singles (7-4)
and doubles (7-6) despite battling through nagging injuries.
During her final season, the four-year starter led the team in
victories with a 9-9 singles record and posted an 8-11 mark in
doubles. Criss won four of five matches at the 2014 SCAC
Championships to help Colorado College claim third place, its
best-ever finish at the conference tournament.
Off the court, Criss represented her teammates as a member of
CC’s Student-Athletic Advisory Committee since September of
2011. She participated in numerous Parents Night Out events as well
as the athletics department’s annual celebration of National
Girls and Women In Sports Day, both of which gave young kids the
opportunity to interact with current Tiger athletes.
During her senior year, Criss also coached children and young
adults at Colorado Springs Tennis, working alongside Colorado
College Head Coach Anthony Weber.
At the same time, she was gaining valuable experience while
serving as a peer monitor for CC’s Intensive English
Institute and as a tutor at the college’s Ruth Barton Writing
Center.
Criss also was a member of the Senior Class Committee that served
as a liaison between the senior class and the college’s
administration in regards to Commencement and graduation events.
The committee also worked with their classmates to fund the senior
class gift, an endowed scholarship in the name of Reuben Mitrani
’14, a classmate who passed away while studying abroad during
his sophomore year. The scholarship will provide aid to a deep-need
student each year.
She recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology
and a minor in education studies. Her major thesis was titled
"Cultural Identity Exchange and Preservation Amongst International
Camp Counselors at American Summer Camps," while her minor capstone
was "An Analysis and Critique of Individualized Education Programs
in Colorado School Districts."
Criss will utilize the findings of both bodies of work on June 16
when she begins a one-year fellowship with the Denver School for
Science and Technology, a network of charter schools within Denver
Public School system.
