LYDIA RICE OF BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE, a senior defender from Tupelo, Miss., has been selected the SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete-of-the-Week for the week ending September 13, 2009.

Rice, a senior captain for the BSC women's soccer team who helped anchor a defense that only allowed 19 goals and upheld seven shutouts a year ago, has been heavily involved in community service in the Birmingham area since she came to campus as a freshman in 2006, when she was named Service Learning Co-Volunteer of the Year. 

Rice volunteered at First Light Women's Shelter in 2007 and 2008, and served as Treasurer of the Relay for Life Committee as a sophomore. She has also volunteered at Oak Knoll Retirement Home for the past three years, and is an Ongoing Project Coordinator, coordinating volunteer involvement and partnership between Birmingham-Southern and Oak Knoll.

As a sophomore, Rice spent her interim term working with homeless ministries at Glide UMC in San Francisco, Calif. This year as a senior, Lydia participated in Community Outreach Day, and she plans to work with the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (HICA) and the Cahaba Valley Health Clinic.