BATON ROUGE — On Thursday evening, a total of 18 LSU student-athletes representing six athletics programs took part in the first Geaux Givers Recruits campaign in which 10 students with exceptionalities from Port Allen Middle School were given an on-campus recruiting experience of a lifetime.
Senior Kyle Rose, who serves as the Community Outreach co-chairman for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, established the project in which local students with exceptionalities are provided a recruiting experience similar to LSU’s student-athletes, including a tour of the campus by SAAC members.
Joining Rose from the LSU track and field squad were Brianne Bergeron, Laura Carleton, Cullen Doody, Brandon Gordon, Leigh-Ann Naccari and Lauren Saucier, as well as Timmy Dasinger, Clint Hallum, Audrey Lawson, Kaelee Mader, Shanna Spears and Jane Trepp of swimming and diving, Madie Jones and Nicole Willis of volleyball, Natalie Ieyoub of soccer, Ashley Applegate of softball, Alex Russian from the football team and Tessa Teachman of the women’s golf team.
The group kicked off its tour at 4 p.m. at Mike the Tiger’s Habitat. SAAC members then guided the group through a tour of such on-campus athletic icons as the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes and Athletic Administration Building.
Perhaps the highlight of the evening’s campus tour was leading the students through the Broussard Center for Athletic Training and into Tiger Stadium for their own experience as an LSU football player.
The students then enjoyed a group dinner inside the press conference room located on the fifth floor of the Athletic Administration Building before attending the LSU women’s basketball game against Ole Miss.
“We all had a blast tonight. It was great seeing the kids having such a good time and connecting with their hosts,” Spears said. “The kids really got into the basketball game, and it was nice to see them smiling and having fun. Kyle (Rose) did an awesome job of putting this all together.”
“It was a great experience being able to bring kids on an actual LSU recruiting trip. We had a lot of fun to show them around campus,” Russian said. “We started off at Mike the Tiger’s cage, then the weight room and academic center and training room. We then had a great pasta meal together. The women’s basketball game was also exciting with LSU beating Ole Miss, 78-43. Jade Bryan always does a great job organizing our Geaux Givers community service, and I really enjoyed this experience.”