On December 19, 2011, while most of Clemson’s student-athlete population had traveled home for winter break, members of the Track and Field team were dedicating their time to the Salvation Army and two struggling families. For several years, Clemson’s Track and Field team has thrown a Salvation Army Christmas party for families in the Angel Tree Program. With the Angel Tree Program, the families submit a list of gifts that they are unable to purchase themselves.
The Track and Field team then chose several gifts from the list to give the families at the Christmas party. The Christmas party is an opportunity for the student-athletes to give to families in need and help them celebrate Christmas with gifts. One of the fathers wrote that the team “allowed [them] to have a wonderful evening and took a lot of stress off of [their] family”. The Christmas party was just one of several holiday parties that Clemson student-athletes participated in to spread Christmas cheer around the Clemson area.
Now that the spring semester has begun, the student-athletes are gearing up for some of Solid Orange Squad’s biggest projects of the year. Alyssa Kulik and the newspaper staff are putting the final touches on this year’s newspaper so it can be sent to press, Brannon Sulka and Cory Thalheimer are beginning to plan the Be a T.I.G.E.R! Field Day, and others are preparing for Boy Scout Day and Special Olympics. All of these events combined will bring over 3,000 people to Clemson’s campus and will provide opportunities for many student-athletes to give back to the local communities.
