Relay For Life

This past weekend was probably the biggest weekend of my school year! Friday night from 7 pm-7 am we had Relay For Life's overnight capstone fundraiser at the IM fields. I serve on the board as Athletic Recruitment Chair, so I made a student-athlete campsite with a photo booth as our fundraiser. We had props from every sport including jerseys, balls, rackets, clubs, and signs, hats, boas, and masks! People could pay $2 to play around in the photo booth and tons of student-athletes came along with President Morehead! Check out some of the photos below:

Sony Michel, Nick Chubb, and Quincy Mauger cheered on the survivors as they entered Relay For Life from the Survivor Banquet 

Several of the student-athletes with President Morehead

We have several speakers throughout the night, and this year my aunt, Jaime Kaplan, was the one who kick started the night! She played tennis at UGA from 1979-1981 then went on to play professionally in all four majors. Jaime was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2010 and stayed 70 days at the Hope Lodge in Atlanta. She shared her story of her bone marrow donor and encouraged everyone to go to a drive because her donor was from a fraternity event a few years prior so you never know if you will be able to save someone's life. Here is a picture of Aunt Jaime and me:

My friend, Emily, and me at Relay

Olivia, Amanda, and Elle who helped me with the student-athlete campsite! The student athletes raised over $3,400, which was more than double what they raised last year and I couldn't be more proud of them! 

Here is a picture of our exec board at the end of the night! Serving on the board with them this past year has been the most amazing and humbling experience. 

UGA MBB banquet

Last night I went to the UGA Men's Basketball Banquet with some friends I intern with at the UGA Athletic Association. It was at Tate Grand Hall, and was truly a great event! I've always been a fan of college basketball since I played in high school so coming to a school with a great team like this and then getting to work for the team was really something special!

We arrived around 6:30, checked in, mingled, and then sat down to listen to the speaker, watch a highlight video, and presentation of awards. Kenny Gaines gave the senior speech on behalf of him and Charles Mann who couldn't make it due to family matters. Attendees included AD Greg McGarity, Bulldog Club President Mark Slonaker, Director of Athletics John Bateman, Assistant Director of Athletics Kevin Welch, and many others! It really was cool seeing how much this program has grown, like we just had the best 4-year run in the history of the school!

Here are some photos from last night:

The table setting: 

 2 of my co-workers, Molly and Jenna

My boss, Kevin Welch, and Director of Marketing for Athletics, John Bateman 

These two guys are inspirations to me! They have been two of my biggest mentors in my four years here at UGA. 

Kevin wanted to honor us because of the role we play in marketing and ticket sales for this team. It was really special to be able to go to this event!