Denham Selected to SEC Women’s Swimming & Diving Community Service Team
ATHENS, Ga. – University of Kentucky swimmer Lauren Denham has been selected to the 2020-21 Southeastern Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Community Service Team for her commitment to the Lexington, Kentucky, community and superior service efforts, it was announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Denham, a senior and Lexington, Kentucky, native, has accumulated more than 212 hours of community service in the three-and-a-half years as a student-athlete at the University of Kentucky. Her service activities range from making meals and doing chores at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass to crafting with senior citizens at the Hometown Manor Assisted Living.
Most prominently, Denham has devoted more than 125 hours serving as a mentor at Amachi Central Kentucky, which aims to assist children affected by incarceration in achieving their highest potential by engaging them in consistent and committed mentoring relationships. Denham has had the privilege of mentoring the same young girl for two-and-a-half years, spending more than an hour a week with her doing homework, crafting, baking, and cooking, playing at the playground, and sharing laughter and life lessons.
Another larger project Denham participated in was traveling to Harlan County, Kentucky, with a group of student-athletes, where she accumulated more than 30 hours cleaning bleachers, painting walls, helping children from a Harlan County school with school work, and playing sports with them in the school gym.
This season, Denham has set two career bests in the 1,000 freestyle (10:06.79, Jan. 23, 2021) and the 1,650 freestyle (16:49.21, Nov. 21, 2020).
Last season, Denham won the “Team Spirit” award, selected by the coaching staff and given to the individual who displays a continual, sincere interest in the team. Denham is also a three-year SEC Academic Honor Roll student.
For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter and on Instagram, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
