A One-of-a-Kind Sun Devil Experience
At Sun Devil Athletics, one of our guiding principles and philosophical north stars is educating students and student-athletes on wide range of subject matters all working toward the overall goal of best preparing them for life beyond collegiate athletics.
The International Town and Gown Association (ITGA) Great Plays Program was created with the intention of educating young people on the risks and proper uses of alcohol consumption.
“We remain committed to our position that alcohol should only be marketed, purchased and consumed by audiences above the legal drinking age,” Their website states. “We strive to implement robust safeguards, strengthening our programs, processes and partnerships to ensure that only those of legal drinking age purchase and drink our alcoholic products.”
After a lengthy application process, Sun Devil Athletics was selected to take part in this program and was awarded $30,000, three times the usual $10,000 allotment. Two student-athletes were selected to lead this effort as Peer Health Educators, Keira Christie-Galloway (Track) and Audrey Ernst (Triathlon).
These ladies will spend 10-15 hours a week working with the folks at Sun Devil Fitness and Wellness to serve as a direct liaison for the student-athletes. They will be tasked with educating their fellow student-athletes on the benefits of physical, emotional, academic and social well-being as well as substance misuse prevention and healthy lifestyle practices.
Experiential learning is one of the main pillars of the Wings of Gold brand, which focuses on supporting our 300+ female student-athletes across 14 women’s sports. This opportunity will provide Keira and Audrey the opportunity to grow immensely through this program as they will serve all 26 programs.
This opportunity gives them the chance to gain professional development that most student-athletes don’t get during their time at school. While most student-athletes are limited to volunteer work, they will experience what it’s like to be a paid employee and all of the responsibilities that entails.
Over 80 student-athletes applied, and while the overall goal is to eventually grow this program to have one worker per program, these two were selected due to their past displayed willingness to go above and beyond.
“We hope this is just the start,” Sun Devil Athletics Title IX Coordinator Deana Garner said. “Ideally, one day we have one peer health educator for each team so our student-athletes can have access to the attention they need and deserve.”
If you would like to support Sun Devil student-athletes through the Office of Student-Athlete Development (OSAD), please use the link below: