May 24, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky track and field student-athlete Josh Nadzam has been named to the Southeastern Conference Community Service Team for the second-consecutive year, it was announced by the league office Tuesday.
The SEC sponsors community service teams for all 20 league-sponsored sports. The community service team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts.
Nadzam has exhibited great leadership in reaching out and involving others in community service. Nadzam, a senior from Monaca, Pa., joined with Soles for Souls, a non-profit organization that helps distribute all types of shoes to under-privileged countries around the world, to put on a shoe drive at the University of Kentucky. Nadzam and fellow teammate Luis Orta were able to collect 2,000 pairs of shoes over the course of a month.
“Making the SEC Community Service Team means a lot to me and is a great honor,” Nadzam said. “I am really passionate about helping the community anyway I can, especially a community as great as the one that surrounds us at UK. As athletes we are given tremendous opportunities and unconditional support by the community to not only excel in athletics but in the classroom as well. So participating in community service is my way of thanking those who have created such a great opportunity for me and lending a hand to those in need.”
In addition to his work with Soles for Souls, Nadzam volunteered several hours with God’s Pantry in many roles that included assisting individuals in receiving food and the backpack program where he delivered non-perishable food items to schools. He was active in CATS Cultivating Character, Young at Heart Easter Bingo at Pine Meadows Nursing Home and many other on-campus activities.
Nadzam won the UK Athletics “Catspy Award” for the second-consecutive year for serving the most hours among males in athletics at UK. The senior is also Kentucky’s male nominee for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, given to the most outstanding male and outstanding female in the SEC. Nadzam was inducted into the UK Frank G. Hamm Society of Character, is on the Dean’s list, an SEC Academic Honor Roll recipient and a member of the 2010 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team.
Nadzam is working toward a social work degree with a minor in sociology.
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