SAN JOSE, Calif. - San José State Athletics earned its second consecutive Mountain West Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Community Service Award, announced by the league office on Thursday. The Spartans claimed their first-ever Mountain West SAAC Community Service Award in 2021-22 after spending over 9,000 hours of service in the community, and followed that up with more than 10,000 hours in 2022-23.
"Congrats to our student-athletes for being champions in the San José community," said Director of Athletics Jeff Konya. "SJSU Athletics continues to excel on and off the field in arguably the most successful year in athletics history. Tobruk Blaine is doing a great job leading the cause for our department with our Beyond Sparta program, and Jada Mazury is excelling as our SAAC president. I also want to thank all of our student-athletes and staff for continuing to be role models within our San Jose community."
"It's so exciting to have won the Mountain West (SAAC) Community Service Award this year," said Jada Mazury, senior standout on the women's gymnastics team and SAAC president. "It has been great to see so many of our student-athletes from various sports working to benefit our community."
- SJSU student-athletes spent over 10,000 hours of total service in the community (March 2022 - Feb. 2023).
- There were over 10,000 products donated to marginalized communities.
- A donation of 200-plus toys to the African American Community Center, an initiative led by SAAC collected at the SAAC Holiday Party
- A total of 8,200 sanitary pads, tampons, and sports bras collected, an initiative led by SAAC, benefiting four different Bay Area agencies that service young women facing housing insecurity.
- Over 1,500 canned foods were collected to benefit the Spartan Food Pantry, an initiative led by our student-athlete mental health affinity group, Dam Worth It; driven by senior gymnast Alexa Solomon.
- Over 400 athletes, coaches, administrators, and staff participated in the Annual Walk-A-Mile in Their Shoes event to raise awareness and advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. This is an annual initiative led by the football program through Beyond Football, with 2022 being the fifth year of participation and first time other sports programs engaged.
- Over 2,000 of the outreach hours were led through sport-specific programming centered around elevating underserved youth in the San José community by providing support at local community centers, leading sports education, exciting youth about education, and inspiring them to believe college is possible for them.
- In the fall, seven games were dedicated to raising awareness to important causes such as Muscular Dystrophy, Epilepsy, Mental Health, and Domestic Violence. At the forefront of these sporting events, our student-athletes wore related patches to bring awareness and support; educating our community about these often misunderstood and stigmatized topics.
"Through the Beyond Sparta program, we have established a culture of volunteerism among our department; led by our student-athletes from SAAC and other affinity groups," said Tobruk Blaine, Assistant AD for Student-Athlete Development. "Beyond Sparta is rooted in service, empowering today's Spartan student-athletes to embody servant leadership; using their platform to elevate others and inspire the next generation of Spartans."
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