Community Engagement Day a Buzzing Success

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BILLINGS, Mont. – Close to 400 elementary school students in grades 4-6 from Washington, Broadwater and Orchard schools came to Montana State Billings Tuesday for a Community Engagement event as the students had the opportunity to meet and learn from MSUB coaches and student-athletes.

“I thought the whole day was epic for everyone involved,” MSUB men’s basketball coach George Pfeifer said.  “I heard a teacher ask her students the following day to write down two things they gained from the experience, and out of 20-plus children, all but three wrote down ‘I want to go to college and I want to go to MSUB.”

The event ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as the students were greeted by MSUB head coaches and staff at 9:45 a.m. outside the P.E. Building.  In addition, “Buzz”, the mascot, greeted the students to great excitement.

“We crammed a lot into a four hour period of time,” Pfeifer added.  “The collaboration among all involved was tremendous.  My best mental photo opportunity was seeing a little girl sprint off the bus and run up to “Buzz”, fly into his arms and give him a big hug with a huge smile on her face – that is how we started the day and it just got better from there.”

The students were divided into 14 groups and rotated through 14 sport and theme-specific stations arranged in 15-minute blocks.  The 12 MSUB coaches and their student-athletes directed the sessions, focusing on their respective sports and provided each student a chance to play and learn more about the 17 intercollegiate sports at MSUB.  

The different stations included a water safety station where the students learned about how to be safe in pools and near water.  There also was a cheerleading and stunt station where they learned from members of the MSUB cheer team about cheerleading and different moves. 

The MSUB athletic training staff also had a station where the students were taught proper stretches and exercise techniques.

The men’s and women’s basketball stations gave the students an opportunity to participate in different drills from shooting to passing, defense, and dribbling.  The men’s and women’s soccer stations gave the attendees an opportunity to learn dribbling through cones and a game of sharks and minnows. 

“I think the community engagement day was a breath of fresh air for the kids,” MSUB assistant women’s basketball coach Natalie Visger said.  “They experienced all kinds of different sport-related activities and got a taste of the MSUB atmosphere.  Hopefully being on campus opened their minds to the possibility of attending college.”

At the volleyball station, the students were able to attack as members of the MSUB volleyball team set balls at the net for the students to hit.  The softball station featured a game of home run derby, while the baseball station gave students a chance to play “hot box”.

“I thought the day was very successful,” MSUB head baseball coach Chris Brown said.  “I know our guys had fun and they enjoyed it.  It was a great way to interact with the youth of the community and hope to make them Yellowjacket fans for years to come.”

At the tennis station, the students were able to hit balls in the racquetball courts and learned how to hit proper forehands and backhands. 

Members of the MSUB Admissions and New Student Services staff gave the students a walking tour of the campus library and science buildings for a feel of what it is like on a college campus.

At the end of the day, students received a folder of information about MSUB and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  In the folder there was a description of what the students did that day, MSUB summer camp information, recreation activities information, and brochures from admissions.

During dismissal, the students also had the opportunity to take home posters of each of the MSUB sports, and “Buzz” saw the children off.