Owls honored for partnership program with local school

Owls honored for partnership program with local school
Only Texas intercollegiate athletics team honored for its work

FROM RICE ATHLETICS

	FILE PHOTO

Rice head football coach David Bailiff took a short detour from the recruiting trail Jan. 28 to be in Austin to accept an award from the Texas Association of Partners in Education (TAPE) on behalf of the Owls football team.

Rice is the only university in the state to have one its intercollegiate athletics teams honored for its work.

The Owls are one of 16 recipients of TAPE’s Crystal Award and received the honor in the category of Community Partnership-Health for the program the Owls conducted in the fall of 2007 with the students at Arizona Fleming Elementary School in Houston.

During the fall of Bailiff’s first season as the Owls head coach, members of the team participated in a semester-long program to promote healthy lifestyle choices as well as the importance of education. Members of the team participated in pep rallies, spoke to students about nutrition and the value of exercise and judged various competitions between the different grades at Fleming. Then the Owls participated in a special competition between the winning teams.

The final competition was declared a draw, and both teams were hosted on field trips to the Rice, where the students took tours of the campus and athletics facilities and attended a football practice.

For more information on the Rice Owls, visit http://riceowls.com.