SARAH LAWTON OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a junior defensive specialist on the Tigers' volleyball team, has been selected the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Character and Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the period beginning November 13, 2017.
The SCAC honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.
Education always has been the top priority for Lawton, and thanks to her family ties with CC, she knew that few other schools could come close to matching the opportunities that are available at the nationally-respected liberal arts college in Colorado Springs.
Her father, Rich, and uncle, Ted, played football for the Tigers, while her sister, Julia, was a member of the volleyball team from 2011-14.
Colorado College offered the best combination of academics and athletics, especially when the sport involved is volleyball.
The Block Plan offers the ability to study in the field as well as the opportunity to study abroad.
Lawton began her sophomore year by travelling to the Caribbean for the volleyball team’s training trip to St. Kitts and St. Martin.
During the final block of the year, she studied abroad in Italy, going at it without the company of friends or teammates.
Having served as a captain at Durango High School, being elected a captain at Colorado College was an important goal for Lawton. She cares deeply about her teammates and the program’s success, and was willing to go the extra mile to earn the leadership position.
Lawton created a video presentation detailing her desire to be a captain and crossed her fingers that her teammates knew her well enough to merit their trust. Lawton’s efforts obviously paid off, because she was elected one of the team’s tri-captains along with senior Reagan Folaron and junior Aria Dudley.
Together, they led the 2017 Tigers to what arguably was the most successful season in the 39-year history of the program.
CC finished the season with a 33-2 record and set the program standard with a .943 winning percentage.
Colorado College won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships, earned the program’s 20-consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, and the scary-good Tigers were ranked No. 1 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association for the first time in program history on Oct. 31.
Just as there are tremendously high expectations for the volleyball team, Lawton had high expectations of herself as a student.
In each of her first two seasons, the economics major earned a spot on the SCAC’s Academic Honor Roll as well as the college’s Dean’s List.
Lawton’s future plans came more into focus during the first block of the 2017-18 academic year when she enrolled in a course titled EC350 – Economics of Higher Education, which was co-taught by Colorado College President and Professor Jill Tiefenthaler and her husband, College Research Professor Kevin Rask, who is Lawton’s academic advisor.
In that class, Lawton was exposed to the intricacies of financial and policy-making decisions both on campus and at the government level, including the effects on athletics competition.
Balancing academics and athletics at a top-25 liberal arts college is a daunting task, and Lawton compounded the challenge with her commitment to community service and campus leadership.
Lawton got her first taste of volunteering when she served as a lunch-hour tutor at the middle school that her mother helped start in their hometown of Durango. In Colorado Springs, she visits local schools to talk about the benefits of participating in athletics and also volunteers as a math tutor.
A member of the National Society of Leadership and Success, Lawton also is able to directly work with President Tiefenthaler as a member of the Colorado College President’s Council, which is a group of students who analyze campus issues that affect the student body and offer suggestions for change.
Lawton also volunteers with Best Buddies, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Best Buddies serves people with Down syndrome, autism, Fragile X, Williams syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and other undiagnosed disabilities.
During each of the last two seasons, the CC volleyball team welcomed volleyball players from Atlas Prep to Reid Arena for a free clinic. Atlas, which was founded by Colorado College alumni, is a free, public school with the high standards and teaching talent of private schools. Because of the high cost of volleyball clubs and camps, its students don’t typically experience the benefits of one-on-one instruction, and CC’s players and coaches relish the opportunity to share their passion for volleyball with a group of deserving players.
After graduating in 2019, Lawton’s long-term goals are to continue to give back to the community and assist underserved students by making the opportunities available at schools like Colorado College more attainable through her work in the education sector.