Many Hands Make Light Work

It’s a chilly December evening and the community room at Gonzaga Family Haven is buzzing with activity.

At one end, residents are lining up for a special holiday meal with all the trimmings. At the other, Christmas decorations invite those diners to various tables to pick up presents and stockings to help make the season a memorable one.

Among the folks on hand to serve the once-houseless residents of the Haven are roughly a dozen Gonzaga University student-athletes, many of whom make a weekly trip to connect with this special community.

While student-athletes are perhaps most recognizable on the courts, fields and lakes where they excel at their respective sports, they are a regular presence throughout Spokane through a vibrant community-service program organized by GU Athletics and student leaders on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). These Zags can be regularly found packing boxes at food banks, raking leaves and winterizing homes for elderly Spokane residents or helping the city’s houseless population.

Community service is a vital aspect of Zags360, a wellness initiative designed to support Gonzaga student-athletes “in competition, in the classroom, and in the community.” Father Tim Breen, S.J., the Zags360 program director, notes that “community wellness” is one of eight areas Zags360 helps cultivate in GU athletes as they connect with, serve and become leaders both during their time in college and for their lives after graduation.

Gonzaga student-athletes continuously prove adept at juggling rigorous academic pursuits, athletic excellence and community service. And in doing so, they are some of Gonzaga’s finest examples of truly living the University mission, pursuing “lives of leadership and service for the common good.”

In the 2023-24 school year, Gonzaga student-athletes collectively performed 3,631 hours of community service, with 97 percent of Zag athletes taking part, and they’re on pace to equal or exceed that this year. Whether tackling service projects with their teammates or with athletes from other squads, community service is a valued aspect of the Zags’ student experience, and one they roundly say they will continue after they graduate.

We talked to several Zags about community service, their lives as student-athletes, and how serving others has enhanced how they view their college years:

Inspired from the Start: Yvonne Ejim (’25), women’s basketball

When Yvonne Ejim arrived at Gonzaga to play basketball, she was already well-versed in doing service projects around her hometown of Calgary, Alberta. But the fifth-year senior and decorated hoopster took her community engagement game to a whole new level in Spokane.

Ejim jumped right into the team activities, but was inspired by older athletes to do more, including serving as diversity, equity and inclusion co-chair for SAAC.

As that leader off the court, Ejim has a lot on her plate: She researches organizations GU athletes can partner with, markets opportunities to her fellow athletes and constantly looks for new creative ways to engage Zags through service. All between practices, games, and schoolwork while she pursues her human physiology degree and a psychology minor as preamble to medical school.

“A lot of the work my last three years in this position has been getting out more in the community,” Ejim says. “We had a lot of classroom activities, and as much as that learning aspect is super important, we also wanted to incorporate getting out in the community, supporting different people.”

Ejim loves that service breaks her out of what she calls the student-athlete “bubble.” Ejim leads a “highly scheduled” life, and she values learning about the Spokane community off campus and making strong friendships with her fellow Gonzaga students.

“I’ve been able to connect with players and coaches and staff in Athletics, that’s been super fun and rewarding,” Ejim says. “Gonzaga has really good programs that focus on DEI, like the Office of Inclusive Excellence, the Lincoln Center, UMEC, different programs and clubs. Last year I went on a rampage and went to all the clubs. It was fantastic. I made so many friends.”

The spirit of serving others, Ejim says, will stay with her as she pursues becoming a doctor.

“No matter where I end up, I want to be able to serve people in the community and do whatever I can,” Ejim says. “Service work, volunteer work, a lot of the stuff I do with DEI – I want it to be reflected in the way I treat people. I serve them. I welcome them.”

Connection and Community: Taylor Mularski (’26), women’s golf

Having grown up in Spokane, when it came time for Taylor Mularski to choose a college, Gonzaga wasn’t exactly at the top of her list. It wasn’t until the junior kinesiology major toured campus and learned more about the University’s mission and purpose that she decided to accept a spot on the women’s golf team.

It was a certain feeling of connection and community that drew her here. “I feel like it would be easy to get lost at a bigger school or not feel tied to your community somewhere else,” she says, “but the way Gonzaga supports its students makes it so that doesn’t happen.”

Having already developed a strong passion for volunteer work growing up, she was excited to find a program that supported that passion and created opportunities for it to flourish.

Last year, Mularski joined SAAC as a volunteer chair, taking on more of the “behind-the-scenes work,” as she calls it, and helping determine what organizations athletes will volunteer with on future service outings. Mularski’s favorite was at a nearby elementary school to talk to kids about the importance of voting, helping bridge the gap between Gonzaga and the surrounding neighborhood.

Mularski says she, her friends, and fellow athletes all live in that Logan neighborhood, and they know there’s an entire community of native Spokanites who live there, too.

“They are surrounded by college students every day, but may never actually connect with one of us,” she says. “Service opens up that conversation and helps us interact with our neighbors who we might not otherwise have interacted with.”

A Show of Gratitude: Tommy O’Neil (’26), men’s cross country

If you've run Bloomsday recently, you’ve probably seen Tommy O’Neil. Not running – though he is a member of Gonzaga’s cross-country team. Nope, you probably saw him cheering on runners at maybe the hardest part of the course, the top of Doomsday Hill.

It’s one part of volunteering with Gonzaga Athletics the junior mathematics major loves most, getting to connect with and support the community that supports him.

When he’s not cheering on local runners, O’Neil is volunteering with Second Harvest packing pre-made lunches for low-income families or sacrificing himself to the whims of strong-armed kids at the Logan Block Party dunk tank. O’Neil has plans to become a math teacher, and on top of volunteering, he student-teaches at several local schools. Having grown up in Canby, a small town in Oregon, he says the service opportunities and his time in classrooms make Spokane feel a little more like home.

“It’s really cool because now, I feel connected to any place I go.”

It also helps that he can feel the love for Gonzaga across Spokane – from “Go Zags!” signs in windows to showing up at the team’s local meets.

“The community loves to support us,” he says. “Through service we get to show them how much gratitude we feel for their support and that we care about them too.”

An Historical Perspective: Samantha Sabin (’26), women’s rowing

When the Gray Fire exploded near Medical Lake, 15 miles outside Spokane, it was frighteningly close to home for Gonzaga students. Not only did they see neighbors lose everything in the sudden violent blaze, the men and women on GU’s rowing squads nearly lost the boathouse where their tools of trade are stored.

Samantha Sabin, a junior history and education major and member of women’s rowing, remembers how the team rallied and helped clear debris so families could recover any items that might have survived.

“It was such an awful place to be in, bit was also so fun to be there with my teammates and helping,” Sabin says.

That experience as a sophomore inspired her to volunteer more this year, to “step into the role of a leader” and push herself and her teammates to get involved in serving in the community more often.

Sabin’s family did a lot of volunteer work when she was growing up in Sammamish, Wash., and she says her experiences doing community service at Gonzaga have not only made her feel more connected to Spokane, but to herself and her teammates.

“It allows you to see how people’s personalities shift outside of their sport, and that can create deeper connections that we can then bring into how we’re growing as a team,” Sabin says.

Learning to Serve: Guillermo Polo Bodart (’26), men’s golf

Growing up in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Guillermo Polo Bodart’s goal was to play college golf. He attended IMG Academy in Florida, a sport-based boarding school for international students, before landing at Gonzaga. “I really enjoy it, I think being at a small, private school makes such a difference,” says Polo Bodart.

What Polo Bodart may not have expected while pursuing a business administration degree and lower golf scores was his growing appreciation of community service.

COVID restricted his ability to do service during high school, but at Gonzaga he’s taken part in many projects. Polo Bodart has worked with Gonzaga Family Haven and helped with winter clothing drives. His favorite experience was at Garfield Elementary, assisting students with reading, math and other subjects.

“It felt like I was really getting to know these kids,” says Polo Bodart. Many of them dream of being athletes, and Bodart wants them to know that sports can be a pathway to college.

Polo Bodart appreciates the impact doing such service can have on people and communities.

“It opens up a perspective that there are other people who do not have the same opportunities we do,” Polo Bodart says. “It is really humbling, and at the same time, helping them out is amazing.”

Service Engaged: Alexi Fogo (’25), women’s cross country

Alexi Fogo’s journey from the small town of Goodfield, Illinois, to running cross-country at Gonzaga was guaranteed to be a transformative experience. And that’s just what the senior biology and psychology double major and president of SAAC was looking for in a school.

It was the COVID era when Fogo finished high school, so “looking” involved mostly online research and conversations that led to Gonzaga, where her experience as a student has been “just incredible.”

A big, and somewhat unexpected, part of that is community service. Fogo knew Gonzaga’s mission has a focus on caring for others, and when she arrived in the athletics department, “people are quick to tell you about those opportunities.”

One of Fogo’s favorite service projects is Civic Engagement Day, when GU athletics visit area elementary schools on Election Day and help teach about democracy. “It’s really refreshing to see how excited they are to meet us and hear from us,” she says.

Working on different service projects during her four years has made Fogo appreciate the generosity of the people of Spokane and Gonzaga, and she relished opportunities like packing food at Second Harvest that brought athletes from across the athletics department together.

“That’s a really cool opportunity to get to interact with athletes from different teams,” Fogo said. “The things we do end up being bonding experiences for us.”

 

Embracing Organized Service: Eli Bunn (’26), men’s rowing

Growing up in Bellingham, Wash., water was part of Eli Bunn’s life even before he started rowing. His parents are both environmental science professors and would take Eli and his brothers on family jaunts to clean up wetland areas.
Bunn appreciated the good work his family was doing, and his parents’ passion for the environment, but he had different dreams after meeting a Gonzaga alum, an auspicious introduction that eventually led him to rowing at GU while he pursues a mechanical engineering degree. And it was as a student-athlete, and taking advantage of the myriad opportunities presented by the Athletics Department leadership, that he found his love of community service.

“Everything feels organized and structured in a way where finding things to do and going out and doing them is easy,” Bunn says. “And it feels like we’re accomplishing a lot.”

Bunn embraced working with his teammates in cleaning up the Medical Lake neighborhood that burned in the horrific Medical Lake fire in 2023. And he recalls going with just one or two teammates during his first year on campus to volunteer weekly at Spokane’s Second Harvest food bank, “more of a low-key thing.”

As his classes became more advanced and time-consuming, Bunn says, balancing sports, school and service got a little more tricky. But he still makes sure to join his teammates and their fellow student-athletes in serving Spokane however they can.

“There’s a pride-point system where they record and keep track of the service every team does,” Bunn says. “There’s all these incentives to do it, but in the end, it’s about doing it because of the good it can bring to the community.”