Roberts Wesleyan was named the 2025 Division II Award of Excellence winner during the division's business session Friday at the NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. The award recognizes the school's outstanding community engagement efforts through its Redhawks Reach Out initiative, particularly its support for the Pirate Toy Fund.
Roberts Wesleyan, among 26 Division II Award of Excellence finalists and the 2024 Award of Excellence winner, is the first back-to-back recipient in the award's history. The Rochester, New York, school demonstrated a remarkable commitment to community engagement, with student-athletes, coaches and staff committing over 300 service hours to the Pirate Toy Fund.
"It is a great honor to be recognized for one of the many community service projects we take on annually. Our student-athletes, coaches, staff and administration work together to do everything we can to serve and help in the community. Congratulations to all the finalists and their fine community service efforts," said Bob Segave, executive director of athletics at Roberts Wesleyan. "Our Redhawks Reach Out service initiatives are important to the growth and development of the student-athletes, and we continue to treat them as an important part of the overall student-athlete experience at Roberts Wesleyan University."
Roberts Wesleyan President Rupert A. Hayles Jr. said, "Our student-athletes have inspired the entire Roberts Wesleyan community through their dedication to serving others, particularly in volunteering and organizing Pirate Toy Fund drives for children in need throughout Greater Rochester.
Roberts Wesleyan was named the 2025 Division II Award of Excellence winner for its community engagement efforts through its Redhawks Reach Out initiative, particularly its support for the Pirate Toy Fund. (Photo courtesy of Roberts Wesleyan)
"Through initiatives like Redhawks Reach Out, we're fostering a culture where Roberts Wesleyan student-athletes understand their unique position to create meaningful change and spread happiness to children in our community."
The Pirate Toy Fund, a nonprofit distributing toys year-round to children in need, has benefited from Roberts Wesleyan's robust support. Over the past year, the Redhawks participated in hands-on events and spearheaded creative fundraising efforts to support the organization. Key initiatives included:
- Toy drives and fundraisers: Student-athletes organized multiple toy drives, collectively gathering thousands of toys and $500 in contributions.
- Hands-on volunteerism: The Redhawks supported the Pirate Toy Fund's annual holiday events, serving as personal shoppers and distributing toys to families in need. Additionally, the men's lacrosse team helped the nonprofit move to a larger warehouse.
- Community awareness campaigns: Through social media outreach and partnerships with local businesses, the school amplified the fund's mission, fostering widespread community involvement.
The Redhawks' efforts saved the Pirate Toy Fund over $12,000 in operational costs and provided hundreds of children in the Rochester area with the joy of receiving gifts during the holiday season.
"Winning this award back-to-back, it's honestly humbling," said men's lacrosse student-athlete Liam Linden."It's for the kids, and we're grateful to be in this position that we're in and be able to help people who are in need."
His teammate Brady Kustra added, "This is so important to us as a team and as an entire school, just being able to put whatever you have aside and be able to help something that is a much bigger need and those who are so much more in need than we are. It's very humbling."
The Division II Award of Excellence is selected annually by the national Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee based on actions over the past year that exemplify the Division II philosophy, community engagement and student-athlete leadership. As the winner of the award, Roberts Wesleyan will receive $3,000 to use toward future community engagement efforts. The first runner-up will receive $1,750, and the second runner-up will receive $1,500. All prize money is intended to be used for future SAAC initiatives or community engagement events.
Augusta University garnered second place for the men's basketball team's community engagement efforts. Student-athletes from the school hosted over 4,500 fifth graders and staff for their annual Education Day games focused on community, learning and collegiate experiences.
"When our players have the chance to participate in community service, it's a great thing," said Darren "Dip" Metress, who's been the men's basketball head coach at the school for more than 20 years. "This game is, I would say, the best thing our university does. We've had kids that came to this game that played for us later in their life. We recruited a kid this year who said, 'You know, I was at that education game.' Those kids, they look at them like they're rock stars. It really is a touching thing."
Mars Hill earned third place for its community engagement efforts following Hurricane Helene in September. Student-athletes at the North Carolina university quickly began to assist both on campus and in the surrounding areas, providing critical support for relief efforts. The Mars Hill athletics teams contributed over 200 combined hours of community engagement across the campus and surrounding towns.
"Our region was hit extremely hard. It's the worst disaster I've ever lived through or seen. And I tell people all the time, you can see the video on TV and social media, but until you saw it in person, it doesn't hit home," said Rick Baker, director of athletics at Mars Hill. "But literally the next day, our student-athletes that were on campus, our coaches, our faculty, our staff members, our athletic trainers, our president and executive vice president were all meeting and organizing relief efforts. We were going out into communities. We even had a group of student-athletes get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and unload supplies off a helicopter. Nobody complained. Everybody wanted to help. That was what was so refreshing to me, was how engaged they were and how they just wanted to give back."
