TOWSON, Md. – Towson University, specifically the athletic department, is known for its community activities. Teams, student-athletes and coaches are present in the surrounding neighborhoods supporting local schools, programs and causes close to their hearts.
 
This week the Towson cross country and track and field teams traveled to Logan Elementary School for a day visiting with students. Organized by senior Liz Reid, an education major and intern at Logan Elementary, the student-athletes talked with the children about going to college. This was a school project for Reid and her classmates.
 
"My three fellow Towson student interns that are placed at Logan Elementary and I had an amazing time collaborating to create our service learning project," Reid said. "The project gave us a lot of freedom but we had to make the school community better in some way. We all decided that bringing in local Division I athletes to talk about college life, sports in college and the importance of having a strong ethic starting at their young age is so important."
 
A total of 16 student-athletes visited the school named after the late Lieutenant Patrick Logan who passed in 1920 in Dundalk. The school's vision is for all students and staff to embrace a passion for learning, knowing that they need to persevere, problem solve, communicate, collaborate and demonstrate virtues to contribute positively to their chosen community.
 
The Tiger student-athletes led discussions at four different stations, talking to the students about why college is important, the road to college, teamwork and RISE behaviors in college. RISE is the set of values the track team holds, which stands for Responsibility, Integrity, Self-discipline and Empathy.
 
Head coach Mike Jackson has led his squad to be extremely active this fall in the community with several events attended and was also happy to support one of his student-athletes in her initiative.
 
"There has not been one week since the beginning of preseason for cross country that representatives of our program haven't participated in a community service event, and this was another great day," Jackson said. "It was a pleasure to spend time with the fifth graders at Logan Elementary to talk about college and all of the opportunities it provides. I am especially proud of Liz Reid, one of our seniors and a L.E.a.D. Tiger, who put this event together."
 
The L.E.a.D. Tiger program is designed to identify student-athletes early in their careers who have shown high levels of talent both in the classroom and in competition and build their leadership capacity. As a L.E.a.D. Tiger, student-athletes will begin to develop and understand their own personal leadership models. Additionally, L.E.a.D. Tigers will receive mentoring to make them competitive for significant national, NCAA, and conference awards and scholarships; admission into graduate or professional school; or the job market.
 
"It was impressive to see her show such great leadership with her teammates and the students she works with," Jackson said. "It's great to see her hard work in the classroom at work. She's ready for a great career after graduating from TU this upcoming spring."
 
The Logan Elementary students, teachers and Towson student-athletes all enjoyed spending the together and Reid was thrilled to combine her two worlds of teaching and track.
 
"It was amazing to have my teammates here getting involved with my students and all the other fifth graders here," Reid said.