AUBURN, Ala. – The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 21 league sponsored sports. The Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. The 2020 SEC Women’s Swimming & Diving Community Service Team is as follows:
Natalie Donkle, Sophomore, Alabama
Donkle led the Crimson Tide women’s team in community service hours as a sophomore. She gave of her time to Habitat for Humanity, the Crimson Tide’s Halloween Extravaganza as well as Project Angel Tree. Donkle was named the Crimson Tide’s Most Outstanding Diver as a freshman in 2019. She was also named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.
Sarah Dalton Chambliss, Senior, Arkansas
Chambliss has completed several hours of community service, starting with 5.5 hours volunteering with the NWA Children’s Hospital. She also has helped at homeless shelters and organized food pantries, trail clean ups and volunteered for the Animal Shelter multiple times. Chambliss contributed in the NWAAD interaction with ASL and feed starving children/food packaging.
Jessica Merritt, Senior, Auburn
In her four years at Auburn, Merritt has been involved at the university and in the community. Last spring, she was part of a team that volunteered to help clean-up efforts in the Beauregard area after the devastating tornado went through. Merritt also took part in the Downtown Trick or Treat and stuffing backpacks to assist the Jason Dufner Foundation. She tutors at two different local elementary schools, and she is very involved at her church with projects such as the Giving Hope ministry and the Freedom Conference. At the local Dream Center, Merritt has spent time making sleeping mats for homeless people. She has made the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll each of the last two years and has been a First Team selection on the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team the past three years.
Rosie Zavaros, Sophomore, Florida
Zavaros has volunteered a team-leading 33.5 hours of her time to various community service activities around the Gainesville area. She spent 20 hours at Hailes Angel Pet Rescue, an animal rescue facility in Gainesville. Zavaros has helped out the facility in multiple ways, including walking the dogs, cleaning the facility, and engaging in day-to-day responsibilities to provide any assistance needed to the dogs at the facility. She has helped out at the JJ Finely Elementary School in Gainesville. At the K-5 school, Zavaros participated in classroom visits, and engaged and interacted with the students. Overall, she mentored the students, taking them through reading comprehension exercises and helping them make healthy decisions. Zavaros also took part in helping out a Xtraordinary Foosball event in Gainesville. At the event that raises money for rare chromosome research, she helped ref the competition, passed out waters and organized the event registration. Zavaros volunteered at was the Trinity United Methodist Church Fall Festival, an event for families to take their children trick-or-treating.
Jordan Stout, Senior, Georgia
Stout volunteers three hours each week with the Mercy Health Center social services department, providing families and individuals in the Athens area with the resources and information needed to confront issues such as domestic violence, homelessness, and food insecurity. She also works with the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia to organize and package food for individuals with limited access. On campus, Stout is currently the co-president of the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, facilitating volunteer opportunities for student-athletes, in addition to assisting with campus-wide initiatives for individuals with disabilities with the Omicron Delta Kappa Honors Society. In the past, she helped with fundraising for a medical center in Peru built by MEDLIFE, organized social events for the Special Olympics, packaged books for local students, and assisted with planting for low-income patients at the Athens Nurses Clinic Community Garden. Stout and her teammates participated for the second-consecutive year in the Swim Across America Atlanta 5K, raising money to benefit the AFLAC Cancer & Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. A team captain each of the previous two seasons, she has earned the Beth Cuddeback Hardest Worker Award, Linda Leith Scholar Athlete Award, and Lisa Coole Award for Leadership. Stout was named to the Fall 2019 J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Honor Roll, earning one of 14 President Scholar distinctions for a 4.0 GPA with 14 or more hours of coursework. In 2019, she became a member of Palladia Honors Society, the highest honor given to women at UGA. Additionally, Stout became a member of the UGA chapter of the Blue Key Honors Society, earning the annual Tucker Dorsey Memorial Scholarship, awarded to one outstanding male and female member each year. She is also a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society, Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society and the Psi Chi Psychology Honors Society.
Sarah Loheide, Senior, Kentucky
Loheide has completed 239 hours of community service in her four years at the University of Kentucky. She began serving in 2016, donating 25 total hours that year to the International Book Project. Volunteering with the organization, which strives to improve literacy and education access to communities in Lexington, Loheide helped organize donations, chose books appropriate for a given destination and packaged shipments. In 2018, she spurred a special interest in The Hope Center of Lexington, donating 110 hours to the cause over the last two years. Spending most of her service hours at The Hope Center, Loheide particularly had interest in the health assistance and nutrition services it provided to recovering drug addicts in the community. She volunteers weekly to serve food to the residents of the center, while interacting with a variety of clients. The coaching staff took note of Loheide’s unselfish interest in service, nominating her for the UK Athletics Service Trip to Ethiopia, Africa. Spending one week in Ethiopia with nine other athletes last summer, she recorded 70 hours of service, primarily participating in a feeding program for a community that obtained a majority of their food and resources from the trash dump they lived in. While most of Loheide’s community service hours were earned on her own, she also has donated 34 hours to CATS in the Community, spending time at the American Red Cross Association, volunteering for the Tri for Sight triathlon, God’s Pantry Food Bank, Special Olympics and Salvation Army. Last January, she was inducted into the Frank G. Ham Society of Character, recognizing Kentucky student-athletes who give their best in everything they do and show a profound commitment to academic excellence, athletic participation, personal development, community service, and career preparation. Loheide has also been named the SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll each season (2018, 2019) and the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll her freshman season (2017). She also received the Bob Bradley Scholarship Award at the end-of-the-year banquet in 2019.
Alexandria Ham, Senior, LSU
Ham interned for Athletes for Hope in the summer of 2019, where she gathered volunteers and raised awareness for St. Jude. Last year, she was a Gardere Community Christian School Mentor, where she led activities and lessons at the school as well as interacted with the kids during recess to promote healthy habits. Ham spent a week in Piedras Negras, Mexico with the Baptist Collegiate Ministries serving local churches in the area. She regularly volunteers with Special Olympics, including Camp Shriver (June 2019), Baton Rouge Special Olympics Championships (March 2018 and 2019) and A Night to Shine. Ham also volunteers with ministries meant to serve the homeless of Baton Rouge, including Serve the City and Desert Harvest which both aid in providing food to those in need. She was a family group leader in July 2018 at Cross Camp, leading 15 kids throughout the week. Ham helped run Progression Church Vacation Bible School in the summer of 2018 and 2019. Other events include hours at Companion Animal Alliance, Girls on the Run, Baton Rouge Zoo Events, and Boys and Girls Club Volunteer. She was the LSU female nominee for the 2018-19 Brad Davis SEC Community Service Leader of the Year award. Ham was awarded the LSU Scholar-Athlete Award (Fall 2016-Spring 2019) and named to the LSU Dean’s List (Fall 2016-Spring 2019).
Azra Avdic, Senior, Missouri
Avdic has been very involved in the Mizzou and Columbia communities since she arrived on campus. Throughout her time at Mizzou, she has volunteered her time at the Rabbaniyah Youth Program and as a Special Olympics Buddy as part of National Student-Athlete Day. Avdic also spent time with The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, Swim Across America, Caleb’s Pitch, Girls on the Run and visited the University of Missouri Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Megan Jones, Senior, South Carolina
Jones has completed 48 hours total of community service this year. She has volunteered at Bright Horizons, the Daycare and Preschool located on USC’s campus, where she played, read and worked with the 3-4 year old classroom. Jones also worked at ECM Yoga, where she helped teach yoga and mobility exercises to developmentally disabled adults in the community. She has also provided assistance at the Children’s Hospital. A team captain for the last two years, Jones served as the team captain for South Carolina Swimming’s Relay for Life team for the past three years and is a Capstone Scholar at USC.
Stanzi Moseley, Senior, Tennessee
Moseley is a member of Tennessee’s VOLeaders Academy that traveled to the Republic of Rwanda in Central Africa. The 10-day trip saw the cohort work with the UTIA Smith Center for International Sustainable Agriculture which leads a UT-Rwanda partnership in helping support Musanze households in small-scale broiler chicken enterprises. The VOLeaders program also worked with Shooting Touch, which uses basketball to provide women’s empowerment as well as providing health and wellness testing. While on the trip, the cohort helped build a new school and used sports to connect with the people of Rwanda. Moseley has completed 85 hours of community service, which includes working with the Fort Sanders Regional Hospital close to Tennessee’s campus. She has also completed numerous hours volunteering within the athletic department. Moseley was a member of the 2019 SEC Academic Honor Roll and was named the 2018 NSCA All-American Athlete of the Year.
Sam Siebenaller, Senior, Texas A&M
Siebenaller has served as the team’s SAAC representative since 2016 and has been on the executive board since 2017. She has been a part of a number of local organization, including Aggies CAN and Aggies Move. Siebenaller has dedicated her time to The Big Event, Relay for Life and Helping Hands. She has served as an Aggies School Volunteer and participated in the Annual Reading Night at Navarro Elementary School. Siebenaller has helped at the Brazos Valley Food Bank. She has also been a member of We3, a female student-athlete leadership group. Siebenaller is a Traditions Night Huddle Leader and has earned a spot on the Athletics Director and SEC Honor Rolls, as well as CSCAA Scholar All-America Honorable Mention.
Paige Hamilton, Senior, Vanderbilt
Hamilton is very active in working with events benefitting the Buena Vista elementary school. She recently participated in the Trick-or-Treat event, Holiday Party and Field Day hosted by Vanderbilt Athletics to benefit Buena Vista. Hamilton is also a participant in the 2nd and 7th Reading to 2nd graders at Buena Vista. In her free time, she participates in serving dinner to the homeless at Nashville Rescue Mission. Hamilton is an avid participant in Dance Marathon, where she helps fundraise to support the Vanderbilt Children’s hospital. She served on a mission trip to Jamaica for Soles4Soles, a program based in Nashville that helps deliver shoes around the world to people in need. During her Commodore campaign, Hamilton has been a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll for the past two years and was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll during her freshman year. She is also a member of Vanderbilt’s Dean’s list.
