Men’s Swim & Dive Community Service Team announced

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (February 20, 2024) – The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 21 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. The 2024 SEC Men’s Swimming & Diving Community Service Team is as follows:

 Blake Peeples, Senior, Alabama

With a passion for helping others, Peeples has tallied over 444 hours of community service. He created Tuscaloosa’s first memory cafe for people with dementia, UA’s first national chapter of the Youth Movement Against Alzheimer’s and serves as the co-director for Connect for Christ, an adult daycare program at Christ Episcopal Church all while being involved in Hospice of West Alabama and Caring Days Adult Day Care. Additionally, Peeples worked with Aspire Nursing Home, Glen Haven Nursing Home, Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama and Home-In-Place. He has also volunteered his time with Habitat for Humanity, Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter and Good Samaritan Clinic. In addition to his time helping those in the community, Peeples has maintained a 4.0 GPA in psychology and serves as a research assistant and coordinator for three research labs on campus.

 Andrew Simmons, Junior, Auburn

Simmons has spent more than 200 hours this year alone at the Mercy Medical Clinic in Auburn, donating his time to perform various tasks. He has also volunteered more than 30 hours of his time at the Big House Foundation of Alabama. Since the beginning of the year, Simmons has also helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity, launched campaigns for the East Alabama Food Bank and helped out at a Hispanic Health Event in Lee County. In total, he has volunteered for more than 300 hours of community service.

 Skip Donald, Fifth-Year, Florida

Donald has worked with the Brandon Ling Memorial Sports camp, where he played soccer, basketball, volleyball and football with kids who have cancer, have survived cancer, or is a sibling of a cancer patient. During the fall, he helped with the setup for Abiding Savior Lutheran Church’s annual Pumpkin Patch, which serves as the main fundraiser for the church’s youth group each year. Most recently, Donald wrapped presents at the Gator Tracks Wrapping Party. Gator Tracks begins to collect shoes from student-athletes, staff, coaches and administration from the UAA, socks and monetary donations and when everything is collected, the annual wrapping party is held to wrap and organize as many as 500 pairs of shoes.

 Jackson Bates, Junior, Georgia

Bates has participated in numerous community service projects during his time at the University of Georgia. He currently serves as a team representative to the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has collaborated with local elementary schools to introduce the sport of swimming and the Bulldogs’ swim team. In January, Bates participated in MLK Day of Service by cleaning up a local conservation land area. He has also volunteered with the Athens Homeless Shelter to provide meals for residents, helped “stuff the truck” with the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, and assisted with the organization of the annual Special Olympics Prom. As the team’s designated Community Service Tracker, Bates gathered teammates to assist at the 2023 Clarke County Halloween Mentoring Event, as well as assembling furniture and cleaning the store for Athens Habitat for Humanity. He has served as a SAAC team representative for the past two seasons. Bates volunteered as a coach at the Jack Bauerle Bulldog Swim Camps in each of the past two summers. He was named to the 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team for Swimming & Diving.

 Zane Rosely, Senior, Kentucky

Rosely has worked extensively with Golfview Estates Neighborhood Association, assisting with neighborhood cleanup and delivering welcoming kit to new residents. He has also collaborated with God’s Pantry, a local food bank in Lexington, the Salvation Army and the Ronald McDonald house. Rosely, a team captain, has twice landed on the CSCAA Academic All-America First Team.

 William Whittington, Junior, Missouri

Whittington has attended several events throughout the school year. He has worked with Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) in Jefferson City, where he helped conduct basketball tournaments for SOMO’s athletes. Whittington also assisted in the preservation efforts on the Hinkson Creek Trail, one of the most used trailheads in Columbia. Other community service opportunities that he presided in includes Swim Across America, Meals On Wheels, and The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri. Whittington is a member of the 2022-23 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.

 Youssef Bahgat, Sophomore, South Carolina

Bahgat led South Carolina’s men’s team in community service hours this season and already has over 110 hours under his belt in just two years with the program. He cites one of his favorite volunteer activities as his work with the Gamecocks Aiding Refugees group that works in conjunction with the Carolina Survivor Clinic. Through this organization, Bahgat visits a family of refugees from Afghanistan weekly and works with a set of twin brothers to help them learn English. He also works with the Generation Gamecock Mentoring Program where he attends a local underprivileged middle school twice weekly for two weeks out of the month. There, Bahgat develops relationships with the students and collaborates specifically with a refugee student to make him feel more comfortable in the classroom. He also teaches a remote Sunday School weekly at the Islamic Center of Columbia. Additionally, Bahgat also is a part of South Carolina’s Dream on 3 group that fundraises and uses those funds to provide experiences to children with disabilities. This year, the group provided a child his dream weekend in which he got to attend a South Carolina football game. Bahgat was also a participant at the Gamecock Games where South Carolina student-athletes visit the Therapy Place clinic and have a day full of activities for the patients there. In addition to his community service, Bahgat is also the philanthropy chair of the Arabs Student Association as well as the secretary of the Muslim Student Association. He is also a member of the South Carolina honors college where he is pursuing a major in biology and a minor in business administration.

 Joseph Jordan, Senior, Tennessee

Throughout his time on Rocky Top, Jordan has compiled 45 hours of community service. He has participated in events ranging from reading to elementary school children to helping create Halloween treat bags at local schools. During the 2021-22 academic year, he was a member of the VOLeaders Academy, which was developed to cultivate positive student-athlete leaders through sport to create positive social change. His time with the program concluded with a cultural exchange trip to Rwanda, where he applied leadership skills and participated in service opportunities focused on community development and social change. Jordan is a two-time member of the Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.

 Shawn Mohseni, Sophomore, Texas A&M

Mohseni has excelled in giving back to his community by recording 53 service hours. He has spent most of his time working with student-led organizations around the Bryan-College Station area. Mohseni participated in REVved Up to Read as he volunteered to read to elementary school students around the area, as well as TAMU Build where he assisted in building Texas Aggie Medical Clinics as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire incident. Mohseni has also donated and worked with AggiesCAN, the largest student-athlete volunteer run canned food drive in the nation. He has recently volunteered with the Aggieland Humane Society where he has cared for sheltered dogs and assisted staff. Mohseni has worked with TeamIMPACT, an organization that pairs children facing serious illness with a college to provide an opportunity to compete in athletic events, as well as with Special Olympics Texas and Sport For Kids Sports Fest. He is a SAAC representative and completed the Brand U Professional Development Program in the fall of 2023.