High school sports team gives back to the community

By Allie Connick
The Portland Upside
August 2009

Photo by Kim Koenig

Keeping Main Street in Gresham clean is one of several community service activities undertaken by the Gresham Track and Field team. (Photo by Kim Koenig)

With eight combined boys and girls district titles and 15 state champions in the last six years, the Gresham High School (GHS) Track and Field team has certainly established itself as one of the state’s most successful programs. But with the development of a new community service campaign called “Gresham Track Gives Back,” the team is also finding as much success out in the community as they do on the track and in the field.

Created and implemented by head coach Chris Koenig, Gresham Track Gives Back provides athletes the opportunity to perform community service hours within the city of Gresham. Established for the 2008-09 season, the team has already logged more than 80 hours.

“These student-athletes represent the city of Gresham each and every time they put on their track uniform,” said Koenig. “We wanted a way for them to give back to the same community they live, learn and compete in.”

Projects during this inaugural year include preparing Meals on Wheels dishes, serving food at Loaves and Fishes and planting fruit trees at Snow-Cap. They also adopted a one-mile stretch of Main Street and performed multiple clean-ups of the road that runs directly in front of their school.

According to Koenig, “cleaning up Main Street was actually a lot of fun and very rewarding. We literally had business owners and residents coming out to meet us and ask ‘who are you?’ They were so surprised to see these young men and women picking up trash, and when we explained that we were the GHS Track and Field team, they were extremely appreciative.”

Stacy Skerjanec, the Adopt-A-Road Coordinator for the city of Gresham’s Transportation Division collaborated with Koenig to organize the clean-ups, and the permanent signs that were erected to acknowledge the efforts of the team.

He said, “all too often we underestimate what positive contributions and challenges the young people of our community are willing to take on to make a real difference. The Gresham High School track team, a group of fine citizen athletes, has recognized a way that they can give back to the community and do it with a real sense of pride and accomplishment.”

In fact, so many members of the team began helping with the street clean-up that they were able to expand off of their official “adopted” portion into seven additional residential streets surrounding the school.

“The community has embraced the Gresham High School track team’s contributions with open arms,” continued Skerjanec. “We are proud of the effort put forward and civic pride apparent in these future leaders of the community. We hope this example from these future leaders at Gresham High School will encourage more such involvement in this program.”

Even Gresham’s Mayor, Shane Bemis, has taken notice. “The Gresham High School athletes involved in the Gresham Track Gives Back program demonstrate that being great athletes also means being great citizens,” Mayor Bemis said. He continued, “We deeply appreciate their many hours of volunteer service, especially in the tough times we are currently experiencing.”

Organizing all the details for the various projects and signing up volunteers was coordinated by Tim Mowery as part of his senior project. “What I liked most about Gresham Track Gives Back was having the chance to give back to the track program, the school and the community for everything they’ve given me,” said Mowery. “It was also a fun time bonding with my teammates and to see how teamwork has an impact off the track too.”

Mowery graduated from GHS last spring and will now head to Western Oregon University to run track, as well as study Education so he can become a teacher and coach.

Another athlete who volunteered for multiple clean-ups was incoming senior, Sam Crouser. Currently, Crouser holds the American Junior Record for the javelin with a throw of 239’ and spent part of his summer competing against the best in the world at the Pan American Games.

“Picking up trash wouldn’t ordinarily be much fun, but doing it with all your teammates made it a good experience,” Crouser said. “Plus, we could see what a big impact we were making in the community.”

So while the GHS Track and Field team certainly deserves the accolades for their many athletic accomplishments, it is their work in the community that has earned them a standing ovation from the city of Gresham.
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