BATON ROUGE — For the second year in a row, LSU distance runners Katie Dawson and Brett Borne have been honored for their outstanding community service efforts as they were named to the SEC Track and Field Community Service Team on Monday.
The duo has helped spearhead the efforts of the LSU track and field team with the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills Program that seeks to give student-athletes the chance to give back to Baton Rouge through their community service involvement.
This marks the second time in their LSU careers that Dawson and Borne have been honored after also being named to the SEC Community Service Team following the 2007 season.
Both have taken on a leadership role among LSU’s student-athletes as members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for which Dawson served as President in 2007-08, while Borne has been elected Vice President of the organization for the 2008-09 academic year. In addition, they also represented the university at the annual SEC SAAC Conference this past fall.
Dawson and Borne have also been active participants in many community service projects in the past year as they teamed with LSU basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and other LSU athletes in the fall to build a playground for children at Polk Elementary School near the LSU campus.
They also organized the track and field station at this year’s Halloween BOOzar where team members passed out candy, played games and signed autographs for local children, as well as led the team’s efforts during the school’s annual Christmas Toy Drive in December.
In addition, they served as volunteers at this year’s LSU Day at St. Vincent de Paul during which Borne took part in a number of repair projects at a local homeless shelter and Dawson helped serve lunch to more than 300 homeless people in the Baton Rouge community.
Borne’s community service involvement also includes serving as a judge for the Halloween Door Decorating Contest at nearby Arlington Prep Academy this past fall.
Like Borne, Dawson has proven to be a true ambassador for LSU on and off the track as she served as a volunteer for the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon in Baton Rouge and helped deliver Easter baskets to underprivileged kids this spring. She is also a motivational speaker in the freshman speech class at Walker High School.
Most recently, Dawson helped organize Tiger Palooza event at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on April 28 to help raise money for former LSU soccer player Robyn Desormeaux, who suffers from Ewing’s Sarcoma Cancer.
2008 SEC Women’s Track & Field Community Service Team
Elizabeth Wilson, Alabama
Dacia Barr, Arkansas
Laurel Pritchard, Auburn
Daisy Glasser, Florida
Kim House, Georgia
Andrea Halasek, Kentucky
Katie Dawson, LSU
Carmia Carroll, Ole Miss
Annie Marie Falor, Mississippi State
CaAdrian Norman, South Carolina
Cleo Tyson, Tennessee
Kellianne Kleeman, Vanderbilt
2008 SEC Men’s Track & Field Community Service Team
Michael Cooley, Alabama
Tyler Hill, Arkansas
Luke Robinson, Auburn
Eric Alberter, Florida
Nate Rolfe, Georgia
John Richardson, Kentucky
Brett Borne, LSU
James Maloney, Ole Miss
Joseph Queen, Mississippi State
Michael Zajac, South Carolina
Chris Kane, Tennessee
Rob Whiting, Vanderbilt