Buffs SAAC Membership Strong For 2020-21 Seasons

BOULDER - CU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has been going strong for a long time. But amidst a global pandemic, racial injustice, and whatever else 2020 brings for CU's student-athletes and the Colorado Buffaloes, the SAAC committee representatives may be more important than ever.

SAAC is an active group of student leaders from each of CU's 17 intercollegiate athletic programs. The student-led group is dedicated to providing a voice for the interests and concerns of all student-athletes at CU. Involvement is open to any student-athelte willing to make the commitment to serve on behalf of their peers.

There are various sub-committees around Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, Student-Athlete Welfare, Career and Leadership Development, Event Planning, Environmental Responsibility and Community Outreach. SAAC members receive educational opportunities on legislation and provide their feedback on initiatives run by the Athletic Department, Pac-12 and NCAA. SAAC members often participate on campus and department committees and serve valuable roles that provide insight to administrators.

Starting in 2018, the SAAC changed its organizational structure from two presidents and two vice presidents to one president and three vice presidents, one for internal matters, one for external matters, and one for long term projects. Additionally, this year there is a student-athelte liaison position.

Specifically for 2020-21, the goals for SAAC are to support CUnited, the Racial Justice and Social Change Task Force by taking action in creating programming, events, educational opportunities to create change. Another emphasis for SAAC this year is to support Boulder Buffs by making sure nobody is feeling isolated during these times. "We can be physically distant, but not socially distant." Information sharing is another emphasis for this year, educating and connecting student-athletes to the things they need to be successful.

Caleb Penner from track & field is this year's president after serving half of last year as the Internal VP. Volleyball's Taylor deProsse took over as the Internal VP and Lacrosse's Devon Bayer is serving as the External VP. Women's Golf's Alisha Lau is in her second year as the VP of Long Term Projects. Paxton Smith is serving as the student-athlete liaison.

There are also opportunities for SAAC members to serve on committees with the Pac-12 (SALT - The Student-Athlete Leadership Team). All of the current members of the leadership team have or are serving as SALT reps for the Buffs.

Other representatives come from all 17 of CU's varsity sports. Those representatives are:

Evan Battey and Aidan McQuad from Men's Basketball
Aubrey Knight and Jaylyn Sherrod from Women's Basketball
Josh Torres and Austin Vancil from Men's Cross Country
Madison Boreman and Bailey Nock from Women's Cross Country
Jaylon Jackson and Will Sherman from Football
Cole Krantz and John Paterson from Men's Golf
Lau and Malak Bouraeda from Women's Golf
Bayer and Julia Lisella from Lacrosse
Andrea Arnold and Olivia Gerrard from Alpine Skiing
Ryan Jackson, Ezra Smith and Tyler Terranova from Nordic Skiing
Libby Geraghty, Hanna Sharts and Emma Miller from Soccer
Megan Forster from Women's Tennis
Clayton Castro and Penner from Men's Track
Eriana Henderson from Women's Track
deProsse and Savannah Perry from Volleyball

Colorado University Athletics

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