University of Minnesota Athletics
M.A.G.I.C. At Maplewood Middle School
5/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
In conjunction with the St. Jude Medical Foundation, the University of Minnesota and it’s M.A.G.I.C (Maroon and Gold Impacting the Community), the two groups joined together and visited the Maplewood Middle School on Friday, April 30. St. Jude strives to make life better for future generations and the Gopher student-athletes were there to promote a healthy lifestyle and pursue an education, particularly in math and science, through their program, Exercise Your Heart and Mind.
In all, 16 Gopher student-athletes participated in the event as they helped two classes in Maplewood, Minn. Student-athletes in today’s attendance was women’s swimming’s Molly Belk, Kaylee Jamison, Madeline Takaki and Alison Eggers, football’s Brandon Kirksey and Kyle Dykstra, men’s hockey’s Nick Leddy and Patrick White, women’s track’s Meghan Mason and Julia Rozman, wrestling’s Cody Marcicki and Bart Reiter, women’s basketball’s Leah Cotton, soccer’s Katie Shelander, men’s gymnast Aaron Fortunato and softball’s Natalie Neal. The Gophers reported to the Bierman Field Athletic Building at 8 a.m. and participated in two classes at Maplewood. They returned to campus at 11:15 a.m.
Student-athletes were there to provide help with two science experiments. One was on reaction time and how it can be related to sports, while the second experiment was of chromatography. Meghan Mason, who is an epidemiology major, led the students in the experiments, explained each one and what everyone was doing for the duration of the hour. Following the completion of the experiments, the Gopher student-athletes answered questions from the class about various topics, including their daily schedules, classes, majors and other sports they like besides the one they compete at the U.
“It’s a lot of fun to be back in the classroom,” Mason said. “It’s been a while since we’ve been in middle school so just to interact with the students is a lot of fun. My mom is actually a high school/middle school science teacher so for me it’s getting to live in her shoes a little bit. I remember being in those shoes of the students we visited today and going to events like women in science and engineering day or having student-athletes come into the classroom. Just being able to repay that experience on a personal level is really important.”
