Dec. 9, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference sponsors Community Service Teams for all 20 league sponsored sports. The SEC Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. The sixth annual women’s volleyball Community Service Team follows:

Lindsey Buteyn, Middle Blocker, Alabama
Buteyn has shown leadership this year both on and off the court. She is not only a senior captain, but is also a leader in the community. Buteyn meets once a week at Davis Emerson Middle school. What initally started out as just meeting with a couple of young women has turned into her spending at least an hour in the classroom helping with whatever is needed. Buteyn also took part in the Halloween Extravaganza which was a huge hit this year. She and her teammates attended to the blow up bouncy gym, providing hours of entertainment for the children that attended. Buteyn also took part in a volleyball practice at Woodland Forest where she helped the girls with volleyball techniques and stayed afterwards for an end of the year dinner. Buteyn was also recognized on the SEC All-Freshman Honor Roll after her first season and has since made an appearance on the SEC Academic Honor Roll as a sophomore and junior.

Kelli Stipanovich, Outside Hitter, Arkansas
Although just a freshman, Kelli Stipanovich has demonstrated a desire to be actively involved in community service in the Northwest Arkansas area. Somewhat limited due to time in her first semester of college volleyball, Stipanovich made space in her schedule to participate in Arkansas’ Book Hogs “Read To Win” program. Book Hogs encourages reading in the elementary schools, with rewards for the top readers and top schools. In addition, Stipanovich and the Razorback volleyball team participated in the SEC’s “Together We Can” drive raising awareness and donations for area food shelters. Stipanovich has also assisted the Razorback volleyball team in its efforts to speak with and provide clinics to area club and youth organizations. She has participated in several post-match clinics this year.

Kristina Johnson, Middle Blocker, Florida
Johnson has volunteered with the intramural program at Stephen Foster Elementary School and also assisted at Prairie View Elementary and Howard Bishop Middle School, all in the Gainesville area. Volunteered at Shands’ Medical Plaza and participated in the Climb for Cancer Sports Camp. Volunteered extensively with the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School’s Read Around the Clock program and the Cure for Design Fashion Show. Also participated in the Generation Connection at Woodlawn Park. Has assisted parents with the non-profit organization that they own in Indianapolis, Ind., “Helping Hands,” focusing on inner-city youth and single mothers. Johnson is also a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll who would like to become a social worker following graduation.

Anjelica Partridge, Middle Hitter, Georgia
Anjelica Partridge, a senior from Chattanooga, Tenn., is a middle hitter who is majoring in broadcast news at the University of Georgia. For the past two years, Partridge has served as the volleyball team’s representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and she is also UGA’s representative to the SEC. A 2007 SEC Volleyball Community Service Team member, Partridge has once again been a very active participant in the community in 2008. She has visited with patients at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens, and she has spent time working with students at local elementary schools. Partridge also works with the Boys & Girls Club, where she is on a committee that is planning towards remodeling the Boys & Girls Club library. Partridge was a participant in the Northeast Georgia Food Bank as well. In addition to her time spent on the court and in the community, Partridge is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Ann Armes, Outside Hitter, Kentucky
Armes is a part of a select group of student-athletes who make visits to two third grade classes at Russell Cave Elementary monthly throughout the year to teach character development lessons. The students meet prior to each class to plan and discuss the hour long character lesson and plans for presentation. Character topics included: caring, fairness, trustworthiness, respect, diversity and teamwork. At year’s end the class creates a highlight video in which the students and student-athletes expresses what character means to them. Additionally, Armes spent time at the Lighthouse Ministries and was a server and visitor for the Jumpin Jags Kickoff at a local elementary school. This summer Armes was a counselor at the YMCA Volleyball clinic to help young kids develop their volleyball skills. Her major is nutritional science with a specialization in dietetics she holds a 3.54 grade point average.

Lauren DeGirolamo, Middle Blocker, LSU
DeGirolamo has represented the LSU volleyball team for two years on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She also volunteered at the Best Buddies Friendship Walk where she visited and encouraged intellectually-challenged friends. She has made numerous visits to Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Ward to cheer up patients and spend time with them. DeGirolamo spearheaded the volleyball’s team’s activity station at LSU’s Halloween BOOzar where the team played “spider volleyball” with the kids and handed out candy. DeGirolamo has participated in the SEC Together We CAN Food Drive as well as serving as a volunteer for the Big Buddy Program’s Evening of Champions. DeGirolamo also volunteered her services for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon, and she also was an MDA Strides and Rides volunteer where she helped set up the event and then encouraged kids with muscular dystrophy to finish the race. DeGirolamo has volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul where she has helped serve lunch to the needy at the organization’s homeless shelter, and she volunteered last spring to put together Tiger Palooza, a fundraiser set up to raise money for a former LSU soccer player who is battling cancer.

Rachel Kieckhaefer, Setter, Ole Miss
Kieckhaefer co-founded a program called Rebel Rerun which is a system for athletes to donate the used tennis shoes to training camps in Kenya for track and field. She also volunteers to coach volleyball and basektball at area middle schools, participates in Reading with the Rebels, the SEC Canned Food Drive, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Mississippi and talks to area schools about healthy lifestyles and nutrition choices as part of her degree in dietetics and nutrition.

Dorey Gray, Setter, Mississippi State
Gray participated in the 2008 SEC Canned Food Drive; Helped distribute and pick up the collection bags for the MSU M-Club’s annual Thanksgiving campaign to collect food items for needy families in the Starkville area; Served as a “Big Sister” volunteer in the Big Brother/Big Sister mentoring project for youth in the Starkville area; Participated in the Thanksgiving “meals on wheels” project for the elderly in nearby Columbus, Miss.; Took part in reading day activities for students at Starkville’s Sudduth Elementary School and later assisted with Sudduth’s annual Kids’ Fair; Last summer (2008) returned to her home town an volunteered for an extensive school cleanup project at her alma mater, Satellite High School and Walked for the Cancer Survivors Association in the local Relay for Life.

Olivia Ryder, Outside Hitter, South Carolina
Ryder helped out at the Athletic Department’s Halloween Party at Frankie’s Fun Park and with Family Reading Night at an area elementary school. She also raised money for South Carolina’s Dig for the Cure event and spent time as a volunteer at a blood drive.

Milan Clarke, Outside Hitter, Tennessee
Clarke helped read to preschool kids during a national event named Read for the Record which promoted the importance of reading. She has twice visited patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and participated in the annual Holiday Dinner hosted by UT athletes for guests from a homeless shelter. Clarke also participated in the Saving Little Hearts putt-putt fundraiser to help raise money for children with heart diseases, bought and wrapped toys for needy families for the Teams and Toys Christmas Project, put on a volleyball clinic for the Smokey Mountain Children’s Home, hosted over 500 kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs for a day of fun and education at the April Play Day, and refereed volleyball matches for the Special Olympics of East Tennessee.