BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State's record-setting year of community service and giving back to the High Country puts the athletics department and university in elite company nationally.
In hours recorded by the Helper Helper platform, which tracks service hours for schools representing 46 states and is the official partner for NCAA Team Works, App State ranked No. 6 nationally and No. 1 among Sun Belt schools in community service hours for the 2018-19 academic year.
Appalachian State completed roughly 10,500 hours of community service to set an Athletics department record in 2018-19. Among all men's sports teams with hours recorded through Helper Helper, App State Baseball ranked No. 3 nationally, and App State Wrestling ranked No. 1 among all Division I wrestling programs.
App State also finished with top 10 sport rankings in field hockey (No. 2), men's track and field (No. 3), men's soccer (No. 4), women's basketball (No. 6), football (No. 7), women's track and field (No. 8), softball (No. 8), men's basketball (No. 10) and women's soccer (No. 10).
"I always tell people that none of us got to where we are by pulling up our own bootstraps, so to see the athletics department and the community combine in such a way that we can uplift each other is absolutely incredible," Director of Student-Athlete Development
Pierre Banks, an App State Football alum, said earlier this month when discussing App State's community service focus.
App State student-athletes volunteered in a number of ways, including mentoring elementary students through the Western Youth Network, participating in food drives with the Hunger and Health Coalition, working on house construction for Habitat for Humanity and assisting with on-campus move-ins for freshmen.
There were also examples of student-athletes making hospital visits, meeting with local Veterans of Foreign Wars groups, helping elementary schools during the Mornings with the Mountaineers program, engaging in Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse, participating in Laps for APPS and holding youth clinics.
Among all men's sports teams, App State Baseball's No. 3 ranking trailed just the men's basketball teams from North Carolina Central and Towson. The baseball team totaled 1,381 hours, with an average of 12.22 hours per student-athlete.
"I would say it truly feels like a family," senior baseball player
Kaleb Bowman said earlier this month. "Families support one another through the good and bad, and that is what is so great about the community of Boone. They support us no matter what happens, so it really means a lot to be able to give back to them."
App State Wrestling's No. 1 ranking headlined a wrestling top 10 that included Northern Illinois, Iowa, Kent State, West Virginia, Michigan, Air Force, Rutgers, NC State and Oregon State.
"It is such an honor to be able to give back to the Boone community after Appalachian has given so much to me," redshirt sophomore wrestler
Christian Beach said earlier this month. "I consider Boone my home, and giving back to my community is just amazing!"
