Three-Peat! Yellowjackets Win NCAA Community Engagement Award for Third Straight Year

BILLINGS, Mont. – Make it three in a row.  Montana State University Billings is one of 18 schools to win the 2010 NACMA/Division II Community Engagement Award of Excellence, the NCAA announced Wednesday.  The Yellowjackets received a $500 grant from the NCAA as having the top entry in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  The “Kids and Jackets All A-Buzz” entry now will move onto the national contest, with the national winner receiving a $1000 grant, which will be announced later in June.

“We are extremely pleased and excited to receive the NCAA Division II Community Engagement Award for our athletic conference for the great event put together by our entire Yellowjacket Athletics staff this year,”  MSUB Athletic Director Dr. Gary Gray said.  “We are confident the students had a lot of fun that cold, rainy day back in April, and I am certain our staff and student-athletes did as well.” 

The “Kids and Jackets All A-Buzz” community engagement day took place on April 13, 2010, as 386 elementary school children in grades 4-6 spent from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. rotating through 14 stations every 15 minutes enjoying high-paced physical activity alongside MSUB’s coaches and student-athletes.  The stations included water safety, tennis, soccer, softball, baseball, cheerleading, basketball, a library tour, a science building tour, volleyball, stretching activity and track & field.  Twelve of the 14 stations took place in the Physical Education Building due to inclement weather. 

In addition, the 6-5, “Big Buzz” Yellowjacket mascot made its way through every station as well as greeted the children as they got off and back on their school buses.  Big Buzz gave high fives and hugs to a majority of the children, providing great excitement. 

Broadwater, Orchard, and Washington elementary schools participated in the event and were chaperoned by the schools’ principals and a number of teachers from each school.

“It was great to get so many enthusiastic, cooperative kids on campus to enjoy a fun-filled day at MSUB,” Gray added.

The event was planned over a four-month period leading up to the event.  MSUB men’s basketball coach, George Pfeifer, came up with the initial idea as the athletic staff met on a number of occasions to build upon Pfeifer’s idea and fine-tune the process.

“To be in a position to work with elementary school boys and girls is an honor,” Pfeifer said.  “Our athletic department receiving the Community Engagement Award from the NCAA is special.  However, I truly believe our purpose or goal was not about winning an award.  The true accolade was the satisfaction of being a witness to so many positive moments.  I will never forget the look on the little girl’s face who darted from the bus and ran to Buzz, our MSUB mascot, and flew into his arms with a huge hug.  That was my special award.” 

MSUB will donate the $500 to the schools who participated to help buy sports equipment for their students.

“We are looking forward to being able to do this same type of event next year if the principals, teachers, and students are interested in repeating it,” Gray added.

Last year, the Yellowjackets won the award for the “Native American Heritage Weekend” which took place Dec. 11-13, 2008, in Alterowitz Gymnasium.  The weekend featured a Montana-Wyoming Tribal basketball game versus Little Big Horn College, as well as a 12-team (six boys and six girls teams) Plenty Coups High School Holiday Basketball Tournament which brought over 6,100 fans to Alterowitz Gymnasium.

In 2007-08, the Jackets earned the top prize in the conference for “Soccer Home for the Billings Community”.  The field has state-of-the-art artificial turf, and is located at the College of Technology campus.  Local organizations, such as Magic City Soccer Club and Yellowstone Soccer Association use the field, as well as MSUB men’s and women’s soccer.