The hunt seat equestrian team, one of three equestrian teams on campus, completed their yearly community service work. This year, they included Albion students, staff and faculty in their contribution.
Instead of donating their time, as they have done in the past, the hunt seat equestrian team decided to hold a school supplies drive for Harrington Elementary in Albion.
Donations were collected in the Kellogg Center Lobby from Feb. 3 to Feb. 7. Students, faculty and staff were able to donate school supplies and cash through Venmo and coloring pages through Color A Smile, a non-profit organization that distributes the coloring pages to those in need of a smile. Color A Smile also donates a monetary sum based on the amount of coloring pages completed.
To encourage students to donate and get involved with the equestrian teams, the hunt seat team added a competitive edge to the donations. Boxes representing six faculty members were placed in front of the donation table, and whoever received the most donations would get to experience what it is like to ride at Albion. In addition, every 10 dollar donation made by a faculty member toward another faculty member guaranteed a walk around the barn on the horse.
For hunt seat team member Emily Rancour, a sophomore from Saint Charles, Illinois, this was more than a friendly competition between faculty for a good cause: It was an outreach to the community.
“We wanted to reach out to the community and let them know the barn is an environment where they can go and say hi to the horses,” said Rancour. “We want people to know you can come and see the horses and chat with us and stuff. We’re not just this abyss that’s somewhere nobody knows about it.”
Rancour developed the idea for the drive over winter break with fellow teammates, Madie Crook, a sophomore from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Sydney Rudowski, a senior from Saint Clair, Michigan.
On Sunday, winning faculty member, Athletic Director Andy Lawrence and economics and management professor John Carlson arrived at the barn ready to saddle up. While Lawrence won the overall competition, a 10 dollar donation was made for Carlson, which guaranteed him a walk around.
After grooming Redford, a 23-year-old horse owned by the college for the hunt seat team, Lawrence was the first to ride. Lawrence walked around obstacles, trotted and performed jumps with Redford. Carlson followed and rode Redford around the perimeter. The two then took Redford to be groomed again before he was placed back in his stall.
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