INDIANAPOLIS---Local NCAA student-athletes, 170 area youth and NCAA national office staff will celebrate NCAA Membership & Student-Athlete Affairs Community Day and National Student-Athlete Day on Wednesday, March 30, leading up to the 2011 Women’s Final Four, which begins this weekend in Indianapolis.  Activities begin at Charity Dye IPS School #27 at 9 a.m.

National Student-Athlete Day is recognized nationally on April 6, but is celebrated on and around that day at NCAA colleges and universities.   National Student-Athlete Day recognizes the accomplishments of student-athletes nationwide who excel in the classroom, on the playing fields and in their communities.  The day was created by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports and the Northeastern University Center for the Study of Sport in Society, with partnership from the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations.  

The NCAA student-athlete affairs group is partnering on the community day project with the NCAA women’s basketball staff to help educate youth about healthy lifestyles and to provide positive direction for them, leading up to the 2011 NCAA Women’s Final Four.  The NCAA Women’s Final Four will take place Sunday, April 3 and Tuesday, April 5 in Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.  

Youth participating in the day’s activities represent campers in the Indianapolis-based King/Kennedy Center Dream Keepers program.  The King/Kennedy Center focuses on peace and the civic engagement of youth using examples of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy’s commitment to public service, along with positive character and good sportsmanship ideals. 

The National Student-Athlete Day program will begin at Charity Dye IPS School #27 with opening remarks from NCAA executive vice president of membership and student-athlete affairs and chief inclusion officer Bernard Franklin.  Programming will take place at the school where the campers will be divided into small groups that will focus on educational messaging in five key areas: healthy living, character development, diversity, leadership and life skills.  The NCAA student-athletes also will share stories with the youth on how they balance their academics and athletics and how they became student-athletes.

The youth, student-athletes and staff will have lunch and then journey to the Julian Center, a shelter that houses women and their families who have been the victims of domestic violence.  The group will assist with a variety of projects at the Julian Center, including putting together picnic tables for the Julian Center’s garden spaces; making blankets for the children in the shelter; assembling personal care kits and organizing donation items. There will also be a planting project at King/Kennedy Park for younger campers. 

Robert Vowels, NCAA vice-president of student-athlete affairs, will bring the MSAA Community Day and National Student-Athlete Day program to a close.