GW Athletics Advisory Council Chair Michelle Rubin, BA ’91, is supporting the Buff & Blue Fund Challenge this year, with 20 teams competing for the right to call themselves champions.
Check back on September 21 to support your team!
ARE YOU IN?
Alana Anderson, BS '18
Women's Softball
"Leaving [Puerto Penasco, Mexico, helping to run a Vacation Bible School program] was very emotional. This trip was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had."
Support the Buff & Blue Fund to provide only-at-GW opportunities to student-athletes
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Our student-athletes choose GW because of the educational opportunities we provide. Through the support of the faculty and administration, the mandate of the Department of Athletics and Recreation, and the dedication of our student-athletes, the department claims strong academic success and a high graduation rate.
At the heart of it all is the Carbonell Academic Center in the Charles E. Smith Center. Established in 1983, the Academic Support Services Program was initially designed to provide support services to a small group of students. The program has expanded to include services for all student-athletes, with an emphasis on individual responsibility and pride in academic accomplishments.
A team of full-time academic advisors and 30+ tutors support the needs of student-athletes across 48 majors from accountancy to systems engineering. With the academic support team coordinating more than 28,000 study hall hours and 5,600 tutoring hours, it's no surprise that our student-athletes earned a program-high 3.22 GPA and achieved a 95% Graduation Success Rate – 11% higher than the national average.
Our student-athletes are committed to improving their community through service. They carry themselves with pride and act as Colonial ambassadors when supporting local organizations and groups worldwide. With the creation of a community service program in 2012 and a passion for changing the world, GW student-athletes have completed more than 25,000 service hours.
Juniors and seniors looking for career counseling, postgraduate advice, and sounding boards on various topics are matched with alumni mentors, many of whom were student-athletes themselves. Our mentors have a wide range of experience and represent a breadth of organizations, including federal agencies, consulting firms, nonprofits, investment agencies, health care systems, hospitality management, corporate law firms, and marketing agencies:
CBS News; Deloitte; Gibbs & Cox; Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.; Grant Thornton; Marriott International, Inc.; MedStar; Morgan Stanley; NBC; Nike; Politico; Republican National Committee; U.S. Department of the Treasury; U.S. Navy; USO; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP to name a few.
We heed the charge from President George Washington to become citizen-leaders in our country. The GW Leadership Academy develops, challenges, and supports GW student-athletes and coaches in their quest to become world-class leaders in athletics, academics, and life. The Academy provides comprehensive leadership development programming through:
GW Strength and Conditioning maximizes the athletic potential of each student-athlete by implementing a sport-specific training regimen designed to improve overall performance. This philosophy is based on:
The Department of Athletics and Recreation has a responsibility to provide the necessary nutrition befitting a student-athlete to help ensure maximum performance on and off the field. NCAA Legislative Council states that Division I student-athletes can receive unlimited meals and snacks in conjunction with their athletics participation. The rule, which applies to walk-ons as well as scholarship student-athletes, is an effort to meet the nutritional needs of all student-athletes. We now offer Training Table breakfast to all 500 student-athletes, with menu oversight provided by the Director of Sports Nutrition, a registered dietician.
In order to sustain a high-level athletic infrastructure, GW must provide facilities for our student-athletes that are representative of programs pursuing conference and national championships. The baseball team’s home facility, Tucker Field at Barcroft Park, and the lacrosse field on the Mount Vernon Campus hosted its respective first and second A-10 Championships. Recent renovations and upgrades to facilities include Lloyd Gymnasium, a new softball field surface and scoreboard, and volleyball locker room.
Projects like these can only happen through the generous support of donors who are committed to investing in the future of GW Athletics.
GW Athletics strives to provide our teams with operating budgets within the top one-third of their respective conferences. Team operating support includes entry fees for tournaments, hotel stays for out-of-conference competitions, team meals on the road, post-season competition, new uniforms and equipment, and funds for recruiting and travel.
To bring the brightest students and best athletes to GW, our coaches travel the world looking for the next generation of Colonials. These young men and women hail from 400 cities representing 34 countries.
Once our student-athletes get to Foggy Bottom, we want them to be competitive within their conferences and nationwide. They experience D.C. and beyond, logging more than 160,000 miles as they face top opponents.
Experiencing other cultures is an important part of GW’s goal of creating citizen-leaders, but with the demands of practice and competition, student-athletes typically cannot spend a semester abroad. Since 2012, select teams have visited Australia, England, France, Italy, and Spain. Our young men and women enjoy the thrill of international competition, bond with teammates, visit new cities, and participate in service projects on these once-in-a-lifetime trips.
