For Weinberg senior and cross country runner Ava Earl and Weinberg sophomore and swimmer Sydney Smith, shaping civic habits as student-athletes is an integral part of their time at Northwestern. 

This year, Earl and Smith were selected as part of the second-ever cohort of The Team’s Engaged Athlete Fellowship. 

Co-founded by former NU basketball player and coach Joe Kennedy (SESP ’07), The Team is a nonprofit organization dedicated to incorporating nonpartisan civic engagement into collegiate athletics across the nation. 

The Engaged Athlete Fellowship helps cohort members to support engagement within their college teams, campuses and communities.

Kennedy said Earl and Smith were two of 39 student-athletes selected for this year’s cohort. 

A year before, softball powerhouse Kansas Robinson and men’s basketball star Ty Berry were named to last year’s cohort. 

As part of the fellowship program, The Team works with each student to develop an on-campus service project supported by a stipend.

The Team was brought to life from the All Vote, No Play movement, founded in 2020. The initiative focused on how student athletes and coaches can blend civic engagement into their programs. 

In 2022, Kennedy left his coaching role to transform the movement into The Team.

“We scaled our impact, programming and resources to ultimately build out year-round programming for student athletes to engage and think about developing civic habits, leadership skills and a sense of how they can use their platform and their voice to make an impact in their community,” Kennedy said.

Throughout the academic year, Earl and Smith will receive one-on-one mentorship with an assigned fellowship advisor in spearheading civic engagement projects of their choice. 

Across this year’s cohort, all 39 student-athletes are also involved in various voter engagement activities on their campuses.

Both Earl and Smith participated in community service during high school, but felt that they had fewer opportunities and less time to engage in similar activities at NU.

Earl said joining the program allows her to purposefully dedicate her time to projects meaningful to her. 

As a political science major, Earl said her thesis focuses on racial inequality in women’s distance running. She hopes to center her fellowship project around spotlighting runners of color and their contributions to distance running, she added. 

Earl plans on inviting a speaker to share experiences and insights as a distance runner of color.

“There’s been a purposeful erasure of the contributions (from) people of color (to distance running),” Earl said. “It’s not that people of color haven’t been distance running and pioneering in that area.”

Additionally, Earl hopes to encourage young children in Evanston to run and learn more about the importance of civic engagement and participation through a charity run. She said she felt inspired by Evanston’s Race Against Hate, an annual event in which thousands of participants run or walk together against racial hatred and violence, which she participated in two years ago.

As a swimmer, Smith’s project centers on water safety in Lake Michigan. When Smith stayed in Evanston last summer, she said she noticed drownings in the lake around campus.

“I would see the coast guard coming on North Beach and it was just really hard-hitting because people (are losing) their lives over something that obviously comes pretty naturally to me that I do every single day,” Smith said.

In hopes of raising awareness about the dangers of open water swimming and rip currents, Smith plans to create a social media campaign and partner with YMCA to organize a CPR clinic in the spring.

With the fellowship program now in full swing, Kennedy is eager to build a group of athletes that navigate the leadership program in their unique ways.

“We think of civic engagement in an expansive way,” Kennedy said. “It’s not just about voting. It’s about developing these civic habits, engaging your community, making a difference and taking that first step. I hope that they stay engaged and inspired for the rest of their lives, not just their time on campus.”

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