AMERICUS, Ga. -- Georgia Southwestern State University ranked fourth among NCAA Division II institutions in documented community service hours generated during the 2024-25 academic year according to the NCAA Community Engagement Report presented by Helper Helper. It's the sixth time in seven years the Hurricanes have finished inside the top five in the national standings.
"We are incredibly proud of our student-athletes and their continued commitment to community service," GSW Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator Caitlin Downs said. "To be ranked within the top five of DII institutions is a phenomenal accomplishment, but what I am personally most proud of is the character of our student-athletes when it comes to community service."
The NCAA Helper Helper Service Challenge is a national community service competition for NCAA DI, DII and DIII athletic departments and student-athletes. Schools are ranked from a combination of total hours per student-athlete and participation rate of teams. It recognizes schools for their outstanding commitment to volunteerism and community service. Participation in the competition using the Helper Helper platform was open to all NCAA-affiliated schools.
Georgia Southwestern had four of its 10 programs finish in the top 10 of the rankings for their respective sports, including three that finished in the top three. GSW ranked second across all NCAA Division II softball and women's tennis programs. It was the highest finish of all-time for women's tennis while the GSW softball team had matched its second-place finish in 2020-21. The GSW women's soccer program ranked third for the third time in program history. The Lady Hurricanes soccer program has been inside the top 10 in five of the last seven years.
With only 10 sports programs and without the benefit of a large roster, such as football, the Hurricanes continued their commitment to elite service throughout the department. A total of 179 GSW student-athletes participated in over 61 different community engagement activities for a total of 7,382 validated hours during the school year. Volunteer opportunities included multiple events with Special Olympics Georgia, Operation Christmas Child Pack-a-Shoebox, Salvation Army bell ringing, assisting with local canned food drives, a partnership with Magnolia Manor Senior Living, reading in local schools, being part of a home building project with The Fuller Center for Housing, gardening at the Phoebe Healthy Garden project offered by Phoebe Sumter Medical Center and participating in the local Night to Shine in conjunction with the Tim Tebow Foundation.
"I continue to witness GSW student-athletes serving with smiles on their faces and positive attitudes, which is a trait that I hope they will carry throughout their athletic career and into their futures," Downs said. "Each year, current GSW student-athletes set the precedent to incoming student-athletes when it comes to community service which creates a culture of service to others with a positive attitude. It is incredible to watch our student-athletes engage with the community in such a positive way and to continue to lead the pack within DII."
As a department GSW had an 82 percent participation rate among its over 200 student-athletes with the women's basketball, softball and soccer teams all at 100 percent participation from team members.
Every sport averaged at least five hours of community service per team member during the 2024-25 school year. The softball team recorded a department-best 914 hours and 20 minutes of service for an average of nearly 46 hours per student-athlete while women's soccer clocked over 647 hours for an average of 25 hours per student-athlete.
Nearly 54,000 student-athletes participated in the competition across all three NCAA Divisions, providing 610,216 hours of service to their respective communities.
Click here to view the entire 2024-25 NCAA Community Engagement Report presented by Helper Helper
