ORLANDO – FGCU Athletics is one of three finalists selected by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and the Fiesta Bowl for the inaugural Community Service Award. The announcement was made at the 52nd Annual NACDA Convention on Monday.
 
The Eagles are finalists along with the University of Maryland and East Carolina University. The Community Service Award will be presented in the fall, at an on-campus event hosted by the winning institution.
 
The award is designed to recognize Division-I NACDA member institutions, honoring exceptional athletics departments that make volunteerism and community service a way of life. A five-person committee consisting of athletics directors across the country and representatives from the Fiesta Bowl and NACDA will help choose this year's award winner.
 
The winning institution will receive a trophy for permanent display and $10,000 for its chosen charity.
 
"We are extremely honored to be named a finalist for such a wonderful recognition," said FGCU Director of Athletics Ken Kavanagh. "This is especially gratifying in light of FGCU's overall commitment to community service, as best exemplified in our being one of only a few institutions who have documented learning service as a component of earning one's degree.
 
"In the end, we are so blessed to be supported by our SWFL community on a daily basis in so many ways. In turn, we are very proud of our student-athletes and staff for collectively committing to give back amidst their own hectic schedules, with a comprehension of how personally rewarding it is to help others in need of assistance."
 
FGCU Athletics takes extreme pride in giving back to the Southwest Florida community that has supported the institution's founding barely 20 years ago. One of the few schools in the nation to do so, FGCU has a degree requirement that all students must perform 80 hours of documented learning-service hours in order to graduate.
 
That translates into the entire campus community proudly sharing in contributing to the number of service hours that students, faculty and staff log every year. Each of the 15 teams within FGCU Athletics are required to complete a minimum of one community service project each academic year that involves at least 90 percent of their roster and which does not involve their sport. Most of the teams go above and beyond and perform at least two, and some even more. Via approximately 350 student-athletes and staff members, FGCU Athletics collectively volunteered more than 6,000 hours in 2016-17.
 
Many teams have their own annual connections – such as the basketball teams conducting an "Eagle Reading" program with nearby elementary schools – but FGCU Athletics is associated with 30 organizations and three main community service programs which teams and student-athletes are encouraged to serve: Habitat for Humanity, the Golisano Children's Hospital and the local Harry Chapin Food Bank (HCFB).
 
Each year FGCU Athletics has multiple teams that donate their time with Habit for Humanity via helping to build, paint and maintain homes that have already been constructed. More specifically, FGCU student-athletes have focused on the Harlem Heights community located in South Fort Myers – a poverty-stricken area comprised of many young, immigrant families who live in run-down houses barely suitable for living. Through these outreach efforts, FGCU student-athletes have been afforded the heartwarming opportunity to help create better living situations for these citizens.
 
In terms of the HCFB, FGCU Athletics has assisted stocking shelves at both the local warehouse and the FGCU campus food bank, as well as participated in the annual "Hunger Walk" to generate resources and awareness of an important issue. Additionally, for the sixth time in the past seven years, student-athletes volunteered at the Golisano Children's Hospital "Spring Bling" prom event for youngsters battling cancer, as well as their families.
 
Making the commitment to service even more impressive for FGCU and its student-athletes is the success they continue to have in the classroom and in their athletic competitions.
 
FGCU student-athletes posted an overall cumulative and term GPA of 3.27 in the spring of 2017, exceeding the overall university undergraduate mark for the 16th-consecutive semester.
 
On the strength of a 1st-place finish in the women's all-sports race and a 2nd-place showing in the men's all-sports standings, FGCU won the 2016-17 Bill Bibb Trophy and claimed the ASUN Conference All-Sports Championship for the third-straight year and fourth time in five seasons.
 
The Eagles have 15 teams, and in 2016-17 they combined to win 10 conference regular season and tournament titles:
 
Women's Soccer: Regular Season & Tournament
Men's Soccer: Tournament
Men's Basketball: Regular Season & Tournament
Women's Basketball: Tournament
Swimming & Diving: Tournament (no regular season)
Women's Tennis: Regular Season
Men's Tennis: Tournament
Baseball: Tournament
 
Additionally, volleyball, softball and beach volleyball all reached their respective ASUN Championship Final matches as the Eagles fell just short of adding three other championships to the trophy case in 2016-17.
 
Since joining the ASUN and D-I in 2007-08, FGCU has won an incredible 63 conference regular season and tournament titles, inclusive of eight CCSA crowns, for an average of more than six per season. Furthermore, in only six years of D-I postseason eligibility since 2011-12, FGCU has sent 20 teams to the NCAA Tournament, while men's golf (2012, 2013, 2015), swimming and diving (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and men's tennis (2014) have had an individual(s) participate in their respective NCAA Championship, bringing the total NCAA appearances for FGCU to 30.
 
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