Nov. 9, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Vanderbilt senior midfielder Cat Wearn was one of 12 Southeastern Conference student-athletes honored Tuesday when the league announced its annual Women’s Soccer Community Service Team.
The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 20 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 seventh annual women’s soccer Community Service Team follows:
Catherine Wearn, Midfielder/Defender, Vanderbilt
Senior midfielder Catherine Wearn is a founding member of the Vanderbilt Microfinance Club, a group of students tackling poverty through empowerment and education. She has volunteered in a medical clinic while abroad in Peru, participated in MANNA, and is currently a part of AMIGOS, a spanish volunteer program. Cat is an active member of the Kappa Delta sorority, participates in the vanderbuddies program and also completed Vanderbilt’s Accelerator program, working in financial research for Council Ventures.
Brooke Rogers, Forward, Alabama
Rogers is honored for the second time on the SEC Community Service team. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native volunteered countless hours in the Tuscaloosa community. Rogers spent time at the Glen Haven Retirement Home and was a regular at local schools. She participated in Read Across America and volunteered at Bryant Middle School where she helped at gym class. She also participated in the after school club at Tuscaloosa Magnet School, worked at the Power of Pink basketball game and helped raise money for Project Angel Tree. Rogers participated in Relay for Life, which benefits the American Cancer Society and Project Angel Tree.
Britni Williams, Goalkeeper, Arkansas
Arkansas senior goalkeeper Britni Williams has etched her name in the records book, setting school career records with 27 shutouts and 30 wins, and ranking third with 356 saves. She also made her mark off the field. The native of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., has participated in events for Boy Scout Day in Barnhill Arena, Lift Up America “Feeding the Hunger,” Book Hogs Reading Program, Sweat Hawgs Program, Homestyle Assisted Living Center Thanksgiving, Adopt a Street on Earth Day, SEC Together We Can “Canned Food Drive,” Razorback Relief: Operation Haiti, free soccer clinics, an Easter egg hunt at The Children’s House, University of Arkansas Student Move-In Day and the Klutz Build a Book Program at Butterfield Elementary events. Williams has also served as a member of Arkansas’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee the last two years, including serving as secretary for this year.
Addie Ragsdale, Midfielder, Auburn
A senior midfielder, Addie Ragsdale is Auburn’s current SAAC President after serving as SAAC vice president from 2009-2010. The Birmingham native delivered school supplies to Dean Road elementary school and participated in the Downtown trick or treat. Ragsdale organized the SEC We Can food drive 2007-2010 and has been a part of the Holiday Toys for Tots Drive for four years. She has continuously volunteered at the Boys and Girls club and East Alabama Food Bank.
Holly King, Midfielder, Florida
Holly King has participated in more than 30 Goodwill Gator activities in the 2010 calendar year. Her activities include 13 visits at Glen Spring Elementary School in the spring and 30 hours of volunteering at Chiles Elementary School this fall. At both schools, King worked in a first-grade classroom, which included some one-on-one tutoring with students in reading or math. Everyone on the Gator soccer team created 10 pink tie-dye t-shirts to give out to fans at the team*s annual breast cancer awareness match *Kicking for a Cure* on Oct. 1. King also joined her teammates as volunteers at various Gainesville area charity walk/runs * Phoenix Fox Trot, Walk by Faith * Not by Sight 5K and Amber*s Angels. At the Oct. 23 *Climb for Cancer* event, a day where children with cancer participate in games with Gator student-athletes, King joined her teammates in playing soccer with the children. King also joined her teammates in preparing and baking brownies for residents at Gainesville*s Ronald McDonald House last spring. She*s contributed more than 70 Goodwill Gator hours in 2010.
Ashley Baker, Goalkeeper, Georgia
Ashley Baker has been active in the Athens community and has participated in several clinics including a recent Girl Scouts clinic prior to a Georgia home game. A total of 124 Girl Scouts in grades K-8 went through a pre-game clinic with Baker and several other Bulldogs on the practice fields and had the chance to earn a badge for their participation. In addition, Baker volunteers each week at the Athens Boys and Girls Club. She also has visited patients at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens.
Laura Novikoff, Forward, Kentucky
Laura Novikoff has logged over 59 hours in community service both locally and internationally. The senior defender has been very active in Kids Café tutoring children. In addition she has helped out in Special Olympics Bowling, Salvation Army Bell ringing at Christmas time as well as the LCA Drive where she and other members of the soccer team went around local neighborhoods and picked up and recycled aluminum cans that had been tossed aside. Novikoff also traveled to Nicaragua on a mission trip and over the summer she went with Athletes in Action to South Africa.
Natalie Ieyoub, Midfielder, LSU
Natalie Ieyoub is a leader of LSU’s community service activities both in Baton Rouge and across the globe. After traveling to the Caribbean nation of Haiti for a mission trip with the group Lespwa Worldwide during the Christmas season in December 2009, Ieyoub returned to Haiti in June to assist with the relief and recovery efforts following the devastating earthquake that rocked the country earlier this year. At home, Ieyoub is involved with Kids Hope USA, which has an ongoing project each week of the school year in which she mentors elementary school students in reading and math. She also helps the kids build self-confidence and self-esteem through mentoring. Ieyoub is also leading the team’s effort in the annual “Halloween BOOzar” on campus and “Thanksgiving with the Tigers” during which she will be serving food to the needy in Baton Rouge. In addition, Ieyoub serves as a soccer representative for LSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and is heavily involved in LSU’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Taylor Cunningham, Midfielder, Ole Miss
Among the community service efforts in which Taylor Cunningham has participated, she is a member of SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee), member of the SAAC subcommittee for Rebel Reruns- collect gently used running shoes and cleats and ship them to Kenya to children in need. She participated in National Student Athlete Day where kids from a local elementary school come to campus and learn about Ole Miss Athletics. She also participated in Reading with the Rebels, SEC “Together We Can” Food Drive and is a member of SAM (Student Athlete Mentor) Program.
Leanna Baldner, Defender, Mississippi State
Leanna Baldner has been an exceptional student-athlete during her four years, excelling on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The three-year co-captain was elected the president of the M-Club student-athlete service organization this year after serving as vice-president during the 2009-10 year. She is also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team, Campus Crusade for Christ, Phi Kappa Phi and Kappa Delta sorority. Baldner, a 2009 SEC Community Service Team member, has helped each year with the SEC “Together We Can” Food Drive and Mississippi State’s annual food drive. She has also volunteered at the MSU Halloween Carnival while also picking up trash around campus. She is a regular contributor in Bully’s Book Blitz, a program that allows student-athletes the opportunity to encourage kids to read. Leanna also contributed to Mississippi State’s Take A Kid to the Game Day.
Mollie Patton, Goalkeeper, South Carolina
Along with her team, Mollie Patton has worked a lot in the community of Columbia the past four years doing Habitat for Humanity as well as other housing project works. Patton participated in the “Light The Night” walk this year to help raise awareness for cancer. She spends time during the offseason reading to Children at Columbia-area elementary schools. In addition to working at every South Carolina women’s soccer camp since arriving on campus, Patton has volunteered at soccer clinics held throughout the state and also worked at sports camps for inner city kids in Columbia and Milford, Ohio (outside of Cincinnati). She has worked as a tutor at the University of South Carolina and, because of her background and interest in the medical field, routinely donates blood for the Red Cross.
Grace Cuenin, Midfielder/Forward, Tennessee
Cuenin has also handed out hot chocolate to students on campus as a part of Hot Chocolate on the Pedestrian at the UT campus. Last year she participated in Knox Kicks Soccer Camp where she organized her team to host a soccer camp where they played and taught African refugee children. Cuenin also participated in Clinton Elementary Reading Night and was a part of in April Play Day. She has also volunteered at Habitat for Humanity, Donor Thank-a-Thon, U-12 Soccer Practice and Knoxville Youth Soccer Clinic.
