501 Corporation Community Service

Monday, November 22nd
Bake Sale

On November 22, everyone pulled together their baking efforts to conduct the 501 Charity Bake Sale. The event was held at Chris Hopkins and Jenny Smith’s place of employment: the Student Faculty Center at the Health Science Campus from 10am to 1pm. Thanks to Huck, Ashley, Barb and Jenny, the diligent sellers of the fabulous baked goods, the class was able to raise approximately $90. Each seller had their own unique manner in presenting the baked goods to potential customers adding a crucial element of fun to the event. Despite the initial setback of another competitor selling miniscule treats, the 501 crew managed to shine with our better selection and service. Some of the favorite items featured at the bake sale included: Barb’s wonderful 501 decorated cupcakes, Ashley’s yummy cupcakes, Huck’s famous Entemann’s treats, Jenny’s scrumptious cookie sandwiches, Jaweia’s award-winning chocolate chip cookies, Sam’s world-famous fudge, Steph’s diving bread, and of course, Andrew’s very large muffins! Overall, the event was successful as the 501 class was proud to display their cooking abilities. (fyi: we sold more than our competitors!)

Friday, November 19th
Clothing Drive at Temple Men's Basketball Home Opener

501'ers set up at the entrance of the Liacouris Center during the home opener of Temple Men's Basketball to collect items for the needy. Lots of clothing and shoes were donated by generous people, and all the items collected were given to Bryn Mawr Thrift Shop, which is part of Bryn Mawr Hospital. Additionally, an autographed poster of Coach John Chaney and an autographed basketball of Coach and Olympic Gold Medalist Dawn Staley were raffled off to benefit local charities. The raffle brought in close to $100 for the charities and the winners were delighted with their prizes.

Sunday, November 14th
Special Olympics at Villanova University

Nothing embodies the sprit of athletic competition quite like the Special Olympics. Participation for the pure love of the game and terrific sportsmanship where on display at Villinova University from November 12-14th. Events included bocce, long distance running, power lifting, roller-skating hockey, soccer and volleyball. This was concluded with an awards ceremony on Sunday morning. However, someone needed to clean up afterwards and that someone was Temple 501. Yes, while most athletes where exiting the Pavilion, Temple 501 was dashing up the bleachers, and hurdling banisters in an attempt to win the glory of picking more trash than any other group. While no official results where given, Temple 501 has claimed the gold in “Team Trash Collecting” in the absence of any protest. Team Captain Joanna Phang was very happy with the results and those in the class who took the time to help out such a worthy organization.

Tuesday, November 9th
Owl Watch

Temple’s campus was safe for at least one night when the 501ers went on patrol. There was almost 100% percent participation Tuesday, November 9th after class as the group bundled up for a cold night roaming Broad Street. Chris Hopkins led one group on the north side of campus while Kevin “Hightower” Huckel led the southern posse. Although the action was lacking on campus, it was not between group members as Jaweia Campbell searched Huckel for a place to warm her hands, and Suni Blackwell promised a special party for everyone at his place.

The southern group was unable to use their walkie talkie with the only campus infractions being a few burnout streetlights and illegally parked cars. The north group found a road sign down to complete their watch. The highlight of the evening came when Andrew Tecco promised to sing Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” at next week’s Karaoke fundraiser at Kildare’s Irish Pub.

All in all, we can’t guarantee crime didn’t occur while we were on watch, but the 501ers did their parts to keep Temple safe if only for one night.

Saturday, November 6th
Bartram High School Football Game

On Saturday, November 6th, a few bold 501 members weathered the cold to support Bartram High School’s football team in a quarter-final play-off match against Dobbins. The 4:00 game was at Northeast’s Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium. It was the first football match played on the new artificial surface. The 501-ers noted the greatness of the regulation size field!

In fact, there was plenty of time to make observations. One in particular was that there was no ambulance on the grounds. This was brought to the groups’ attention by the fact that two of Dobbins’ key players suffered back-to-back injuries about half-way through the first period! It was a good thirty minutes before the ambulances arrived and removed the players from the field. In fact, the injuries contributed to the first two quarters lasting well over an hour and a half! To pass the time, liability issues and risk management concerns were discussed. Temple’s Legal Issues professors would be so proud!

The group also found it entertaining to pay mind to the cheerleaders. Both Bartram’s and Dobbins’ squads enjoyed doing jumping jacks. It was hard to determine if this was an effort to stay warm or if they were warming up, again. In the group’s hearts of hearts, they were hoping for an act from “Bring It On”. To their dismay, this did not happen. Instead, the pom-pom girls treated the group to a half-time show with music, courtesy of a small percussion section.

Despite the gallant effort by the cheerleaders and Dobbins’ injuries, Bartram could not finish with a win. They were defeated by the Mustangs 32-13. On a positive note, sophomore John Pratt broke the school’s record for rushing yards in a playoff. If we had stayed for the entire game, the group would have applauded “Fudgie”. It was just too cold!

Saturday, October 30th
Bartram High School Football Team Chat

Dr. Jackson’s 501 class is at it again! We are the proud, new parents of Bartram High School’s varsity football team. We adopted the team to positively influence some of the student – athletes’ decisions and actions.

On Saturday, October 30, 2004 at 9AM, some of the students in 501 dropped by Bartram H.S. to speak with the students about college recruiting. To start the morning, Walt Holliday spoke to the sophomores, juniors, and seniors about the necessary courses and SAT scores that the students must obtain in order to apply to Division I, II, and III schools. He supplied the students with a handout so that they could calculate what grades they would have to earn with the SAT scores they already had.

Following Walt was Mary Zajchowski to discuss tips on improving SAT scores. She helped the students understand the way which SAT scoring works, and told the students how to improve their vocabulary for the dreaded analogies of the SATs. Up next was Eric Wagner to discuss the recruiting process at the Division III level. He informed the students of the many rules and regulations of recruiting.

Following Eric’s lead was Barb Jonas, Meghan Carolan, Carlos Ramos – Vega, Jenny Smith, and Joanna Phang (the organizer of the event). We each told the team our great experiences of playing sports in college, and having lifelong friendships with our teammates. We also explained how to contact coaches, and how each student could find the right school. Chris Wood closed the conversation with the students by informing the high school students of the importance of keeping their bodies healthy and in good shape.

Meeting the high school students and discussing the college possibilities with our new team was a great start to the weekend!

Wednesday, October 26th
Candy Bags for Kids

On Wednesday, October 27th nineteen supremely dedicated 501ers completed their most impressive charitable activity to date. Despite the fact that the Boston Red Sox were inching ever closer to their first World Championship in eighty-six years, Suni, Jaweia, Meghan C., Madi, Jess, Huck, Megan J., Barb, Steph, Vicky, Ashley, Joanna, Josh, Michelle, Jenny, Andrew, Brianna, Chris W. and Mary somehow found the strength to stay away from their televisions long enough to wrap bags of Halloween candy for dozens of children from Delta Community Supports, Inc.

By organizing an extremely efficient assembly line, the group was able to package their candy in record time. Early conflicts arose over accusations of sticker-stinginess, but were quickly overcome through strong team work. Once all of the candy had been partitioned, everyone was free to head home in plenty of time to celebrate Boston's historic victory. (Or not...sorry Jenny.)

Saturday, October 16th
Dawn Staley Foundation Day in the Park

On Saturday, October 16th, the Dawn Staley Foundation (DSF) held its 8th Annual Day in the Park event, a daylong celebration to promote civic pride and family interaction in North Philadelphia. More than 1000 people, including a few Temple 501'ers, came out to the annual street festival, held in front of Hank Gathers Recreation Center on 25th and Diamond Streets, to enjoy a day filled with free food, games, music, entertainment, basketball competitions, educational exhibits and prize give-a-ways.

Day in the Park is one of many events held by DSF, a non-profit organization established by Olympic Gold Medalist and Temple Women's Basketball Head Coach Dawn Staley, which provides after school educational and sports programs, and alternative activities for at-risk North Philadelphia youth.

At the helm of Day in the Park was Temple 501 student Brianna Williams, who also enlisted some of her fellow 501'ers to volunteer and help make this a special day for the children and families of North Philadelphia. Williams is the GA for the DSF and coordinated this year's event. "I'm very thankful to my classmates who were able to come out, despite their busy schedules--and the rain--to help us out," said Williams. Jaweia Campbell, Madi Dunphy, Jessica Hill and Barb Jonas were all fortunate to have volunteered during the 'sunny' shift, while Suni Blackwell, Megan Jackson and Joanna Phang were troopers selling t-shirts during the passing rain showers.

Unfortunately, this event did not count as an official 501 community service event, but because of the class's giving spirit, many did not mind helping out. "I wanted to see what it (Day in the Park) was all about. I had a lot of fun. I'm glad I came out," said Hill.

"I hope this kind of attitude and spirit will continue as the semester goes on. It's good that we are helping others, but in the end, we are also learning something about ourselves. When we get into the world and business of sports, it cannot just be about winning. It's also about helping people and giving back," said Williams.

Saturday, October 2nd
Philadelphia Cares Day

Saturday, October 2nd was a beautiful and gorgeous day. A group of enthusiastic 501'ers showed up at the atrium of Temple’s Student Activities Center to participate in the annual Philadelphia Cares Day Serve-A-Thon. We started the morning with a delicious Dunkin’ Donut-and-coffee breakfast provided by Temple. Along with three or four other groups of Temple students, the 501 clan marched to Dunbar Elementary School to start working on various projects such as painting doors, cleaning roofs, pulling weeds, sweeping the courtyard, etc. The 501 group was sent up to the roof of the elementary school, and for about two hours, we worked hard pulling out weeds and sweeping the entire roof. While on top of the roof, rain threatened, but somehow held off so we were able to escape being soaked. We completed our assigned tasks fairly quickly and were later sent down to the school’s courtyard for more sweeping and cleaning up. Our mission was completed at around noon, leaving Dunbar looking spick and span. Some 501'ers headed home or to work while the rest of the group decided to get a bite to eat in the food court at Temple’s Student Activities Center. Our diligent helpers of the day were Suni, Jaweia, Megan, Andrew, Barb, Chris Wood, Carlos, Jenny, Sam, Mary, Stephanie, and Joanna. GREAT JOB, 501'ers!!

Monday, September 20th
Eagles Game Help

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!!!!! Four daring 501'ers ventured into the vast parking lots of Lincoln Financial Field on September 20th for the Monday Night Football Game to hand out very detailed surveys to Eagles tailgaters. This jungle of hardcore, drunken Eagles fans posed an interesting dilemma to the 501'ers, as it was their job to convince these people to fill out a "quick survey" on customer service at the Link. We were charged with successfully obtaining 70 complete forms by kickoff.

As we tried our very best to coerce the fans into voicing their opinion, we came very close to achieving our goal. Have you ever tried to reason with a drunken Eagles fan to fill out a "buzz-kill" survey? It's very difficult! But in the end we helped collect valuable information on opinions ranging from food service to the big screen replay board.

Craig, our boss, was very grateful for our help, and as a reward we were able to stay for the game, although it was standing room only for us.

Saturday, September 7th
Wissahickon Park

On Saturday, September 11, a group of 501ers visited the Wissahickon Park to do some volunteer work. The Wissahickon Valley Park is a 1850 acre forest situated in a stream gorge approximately seven miles long. It is part of Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park which, with its almost 9000 acres, is the largest municipal park in the world.

Our job was in coordination with the Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers community organization. This is a non-profit organization with the responsibility to carry out a conservation program in Wissahickon Park. Sarah Low, the Field Director, was our contact person at the Park. The 501'ers that volunteered on that morning were: Joanna Phang, Suni Blackwell, Jess Hill, Megan Jackson, Barb Jones, Victoria Oddi, Ashley Parr, Josh Schofield, Carlos Ramos-Vega, Michelle Shegda and Michelle's sister.

We started our day around 10:00 AM, where we received our tools and instructions for the day. We were divided into two groups: one whose tasks were to clear the trail of rocks and trimming the branches that were blocking the trail path, and the other whose job it was to clear a path for a tributary that was obstructed by last month rains. After two hours of intense and rigorous labor, our job was done. We accomplished our goals for the day, and the organization was excited that fresh troops would be returning the following week to continue with the restoration of this magnificent park.

Friday, September 6th
Blue Horizon

Going off of tradition, the Sport Administration 501 Corporation’s first volunteer event of the new semester included everything a good class needs. The beer was flowing, punches were thrown, and most importantly, the night ended with a KO.

On Friday September 10, a group of thirteen 501'ers walked down to the Legendary Blue Horizon to serve as volunteer ushers for the evening. Although a majority of the group had never been there, we quickly got right into the swing of things by using our trusty maps to guide patrons to their seats. The crowd was a bit sparse for a Friday evening, but this just allowed us to watch the excitement in the ring.

On Friday September 10, a group of thirteen 501'ers walked down to the Legendary Blue Horizon to serve as volunteer ushers for the evening. Although a majority of the group had never been there, we quickly got right into the swing of things by using our trusty maps to guide patrons to their seats. The crowd was a bit sparse for a Friday evening, but this just allowed us to watch the excitement in the ring.

For general questions contact the 501'ers at:
SPA501er@temple.edu

Alumni - reconnect with your fellow 501'ers:
SPRalum@temple.edu