The community owned and student operated Southern Ohio Copperheads based in Athens, Ohio have unveiled a new community project in partnership with Kids on Campus. Kids on Campus is a rural community-university partnership with Ohio University that empowers underserved, at-risk children and their families through educational, nutritional, and recreational activities. The project involves the installation of lockers at local parks that are filled with free sports equipment for anyone to use.
The lockers are located at Amesville, Chester, and Tuppers Plains parks and include baseballs, baseball gloves, footballs, soccer balls, and frisbees. The goal is to encourage young people in the southeastern Ohio community to engage in sporting activities, even if they do not have access to their own equipment.
Jo Ellen Sherow, the Program Manager of Kids on Campus played a huge part in this idea coming to fruition.
Sherow stated, “Students in our afterschool program at Eastern Local School District were interested in learning woodworking skills and the Copperheads student staff were interested in experiential learning opportunities. We knew that it was challenging for our families to find opportunities in some of our smaller communities for the use of sporting equipment and space. The lending libraries and food pantries in our communities have proven quite successful, so the idea of a sport lending locker seemed like a good collaboration project for both Kids on Campus and the Copperheads students. The idea was from the Copperheads staff, the lockers were built by our Kids on Campus students, and both groups contributed to providing equipment to fill them. We were able to find great cooperation and support from the local communities of Tuppers Plains, Chester and Amesville to place lockers at their sport fields. Having access to quality sports equipment is not always possible for families in our region, and sometimes youth gather without a plan. Having equipment readily available gives them the ability to make good choices of how to fill their time.”
Kendra Risner, a woodshop teacher at Eastern Local Middle School, helped construct the lockers with students.
She commented, “As a teacher, I see students grow in knowledge and skills daily. Since working with these students I have been able to grow in their woodworking abilities. The most important thing about working on these sports equipment lockers has been teaching the students about the importance of community.”
Connor Sells, the assistant General Manager of the Southern Ohio Copperheads is excited to see how these equipment lockers are received in the community, as well as the benefit this partnership has created for both organizations.
Sells added, “As a leader on the student staff of the Southern Ohio Copperheads, I can safely say it remains a huge priority of the team to give back to the community. As a majority student operated team, when we can couple experiential learning opportunities for students who are looking to pursue a career in sports and entertainment, while also using those same opportunities to benefit the underserved communities of southeastern Ohio, it truly is a win for everyone involved. The student staff remains hard at work attempting to create more projects with a focus on the wellbeing and development of southeastern Ohio. The entire staff of the Copperheads is looking forward to what these lockers can accomplish for the communities they reside in.”
This project was made possible by the Experiential Learning Grant through the Ohio University Office of Experiential Learning. Jake Lietzow, the Assistant Director for Experiential Learning Design at Ohio University, formerly worked with the Copperheads as a game-day staffer.
He commented, “The focus of the Southern Ohio Copperheads has always been our community, and my time as a General Staffer for the Copperheads helped me build a positive sense of place. It allowed me to travel off OHIO’s campus and converse with some of our incredible community members. Although, it has been almost a decade since I dawned the bright orange staff t-shirt, my experience interacting with the community as a part of the Copperheads organization has shaped the person I am today,” he continued, “My role in the Office of Experiential Learning includes supporting faculty in developing transformative experiential learning opportunities. In October, Annie mentioned the potential partnership between the Copperheads and Kids on Campus. Immediately recognizing its profound value, I urged Annie to apply for our office’s $5,000 grant to fund the program and offered support,” he concluded, “Our office is honored to support experiential learning opportunities like this, and I am delighted to see OHIO students engaging with the community through their participation with the Copperheads, as I did.”
The project is part of the Copperheads ongoing commitment to giving back to the communities of southeastern Ohio. Kids on Campus remains a key partner of the Copperheads, with a similar mission to provide experiences to children in the community who may not be able to afford them otherwise. Read more about Kids on Campus here: https://www.ohio.edu/kids.
The Southern Ohio Copperheads is a community-owned, student-operated 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Established in 2002, the Copperheads is a summer collegiate wooden bat baseball team that competes in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League and plays its home games at Bob Wren Stadium in Athens, OH. The Copperheads organization strives to provide the most affordable means of family-friendly outdoor entertainment in southeast OH. Tickets to Copperheads games are $5 and children under the age of five receive free admission. Staffed by Ohio University students, the Southern Ohio Copperheads also serve as a “learning lab” for student interns looking to work in the sport and entertainment industry.
