Temple University Athletics
Temple SAAC Wins A10 Anti-Bullying Video Competition
4.5.12 | General
PHILADELPHIA -- Temple University is the winner of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's (SAAC) "Anti-Bullying" Video Competition after the Owls' video, "Owls Give a Hoot," received an astonishing 5,353 votes from the online fan poll on atlantic10.com.
Temple's video showcased over 30 student-athletes, members of the student body, campus administrators and Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw, all of whom urged viewers to "give a hoot" and take a stand against bullying.
"Making a positive impact in the community is something that Temple University athletics prides itself on, and our SAAC lead the charge in this area," said Bradshaw. "I am so happy that their creative efforts in regards to the Anti-bullying campaign were rewarded with a first place finish, especially as the other A-10 schools videos were also well done."
"I'm very proud of what the student-athletes in the Atlantic 10 SAAC have done both in the creativity of their videos and in their efforts to address an incredibly important topic in our society today," stated Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade. "While Temple won the contest, each institution should be commended for helping to bring to light an issue that impacts so many people."
The competition's winner is determined by two equally weighted components: the online fan vote and voting conducted by each institution's campus SAAC organization. Temple's victory was fueled by the online fan vote and one first place vote in the campus SAAC voting.
The anti-bullying theme of this year's contest was chosen by a unanimous vote of the Atlantic 10 Conference SAAC and provided the perfect canvas for A-10 student-athletes to create compelling messages of hope, compassion and strength.
"We decided to go with an anti-bullying theme this year for the video competition because we wanted to do our part as student-athletes to address a major issue in today's society," explained Alex Dadds, the junior cross country student-athlete from George Washington who first introduced this year's theme to the group. "As student-athletes we are in a position of influence and I think it's important to realize nothing is going to change if we don't speak up."
The competition provided institutions with the option to produce videos promoting a broader anti-bullying message or videos supporting the `It Gets Better Project', an online forum that, according to its website was "created to show young LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach - if they can just get through their teen years."
"A big part of the concept of our video came from gymnast Blake Collins,” said Temple SAAC President and junior track performer Jennifer Abercrumbie. “We wanted to make the video similar to the NOH8 campaign with a Temple twist. Owls give a “hoot” about many things, so we wanted to showcase that throughout the video. Overall it was a group effort and would not have happened without the participation of everyone!"
Senior All-American fencer and film major Alyssa Lomuscio was responsible for producing and editing the winning video.
One can only hope that the near 16,000 voters are only fraction of the number of people who will be impacted by the message that is delivered through the videos.
"To have generated enough excitement and interest to produce almost 16,000 online votes shows that [the student-athletes] have taken advantage of a real opportunity to make a difference," said Jill Redmond, Atlantic 10 Assistant Commissioner and Conference SAAC liaison. "It doesn't end with the videos- campuses have begun visiting schools to address the issue of bullying,"
To watch all the video entries online, please log on to http://www.atlantic10.com/saac/atl10-saac-videos-12.html
