BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Patriot League student-athletes, coaches and staff will unite in their commitment to the League’s ongoing mental health and well-being campaign spearheaded by the League’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
“The Patriot League is committed to serving our student-athletes and recognizing the importance of mental health and well-being on our campuses and within our communities,” Patriot League Commissioner Jennifer Heppel said. “Our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has been the leading force behind this week’s efforts and we are proud of the willingness shown by all of our student-athletes to use their platform to continue this important conversation.”
During the weekend of competition beginning Friday, April 14, nearly 6,700 Patriot League student-athletes, coaches and staff will wear specially-designed shirts. The decision to develop the warm-up shirts is based on a call to action from the Patriot League SAAC surrounding the efforts to destigmatize the conversation around mental health and well-being.
The shirt dons the phrase “Mental Health Matters” along with the Patriot League logo on the front. The back of the shirt features a green ribbon, the international symbol of mental health awareness, with 10 stars to symbolize the League’s full-time member institutions. The shirt design was selected via a design contest involving submissions made on behalf of the Patriot League’s institutions. The winning design originated from Boston University’s SAAC.
"The Mental Health shirts represent a League-wide commitment to prioritizing mental health as much as our athletes’ physical health,” Boston University SAAC members Stephanie Liu and Sumi Cameron said. “We added green as it signifies growth and new beginnings. Having student-athletes wear the green ribbon will show our support for normalizing mental health conversations."
Earlier in the week, student-athletes from around the Patriot League will discuss mental health and its role within the collegiate environment in a panel moderated by Dr. Trevor Cote, the Coordinator of Student-Athlete Mental Health and Performance Programming at the College of the Holy Cross. Boston University’s Sumi Cameron (women’s diving) and Alexandra Castro (women’s rowing), Bucknell’s Symone Ryans (women’s lacrosse), and Navy’s Brett Brady (men’s cross country and track and field) and Corinne Farid (women’s tennis) will be speaking on the panel.
In addition to the panel discussion, student-athletes from member institutions will participate in creating videos sharing how they practice and maintain their mental health. Also, institutions will create paper unity chains that will be connected at the end of the week to represent a unified League approach to mental health and well-being. These measures will be shared across the Patriot League’s Twitter (
@PatriotLeague) and Instagram (
@patriotleague) accounts in addition to the athletics social media accounts from League member programs.
Aldrich Elvambuena
Patriot League SAAC Chair - American University, Men’s Swimming and Diving
“As student-athletes, we face many challenges balancing our academic responsibilities, physical demands, and social pressures. The Patriot League SAAC developed this initiative to help promote conversations surrounding mental health on our campuses and teams. Through our t-shirt designs, discussion panels, and social media campaigns, we hope to destigmatize the negative perceptions surrounding mental health and provide our student-athletes the resources and support they may need.”
ABOUT THE PATRIOT LEAGUE
The Patriot League is in its fourth decade of academic and athletic achievement, continually demonstrating that student-athlete can excel at both academics and athletics without sacrificing high standards. The Patriot League’s athletic success is achieved while its member institutions remain committed to its founding principle of admitting and graduating student-athletes that are academically representative of their class. Participation in athletics at Patriot League institutions is viewed as an important component of a well-rounded education.