To kick off DIII Week, the University of Chicago celebrated National Student-Athlete Day for the first time on Friday.

Team representatives from the Women’s Athletic Association (WAA) and Order of the C (OoC) organized the event that was held in Bartlett Quad.

“We didn’t really know what to expect having it be the first year for an event, but we all considered it a success,” WAA President Kim Cygan said. “The hope was to outreach to the various groups on campus who impact the experience of student-athletes, and the UChicago community at large.”

Student-athletes and non-athletes alike participated in trivia, soccer juggling, and radar throwing competitions with prizes including t-shirts being awarded to winners.

“We had many non-student-athletes participating in the events and on the leader boards,” Cygan said. “I was very happy with the number of people passing by that stopped by to do one of the competitions.”

On top of the competitions, masses of students partook in the “Make Your Own Trail Mix” station.

“Make Your Own Trail Mix was very popular, especially for the rushes of people passing by for class or lunch,” Cygan said. “We had the volunteers handing out the trail mix inform the individuals a little about National Student Athlete Day.”

While this was the first year, according to Cygan, that National Student Athlete Day was recognized at the University of Chicago, April 6 was the 26th annual national celebration.

Cygan said she first heard about the event during a University Athletic Association (UAA) conference in August. “I wanted to see if there was interest for an event at UChicago,” she said. “After discussing it with our advisor and bringing it up at WAA/OoC meetings, we decided we wanted to do an event this year for it to kick off Division III Week.” Although National Student Athlete Day just celebrated its 26th year, DIII Week is only in its second year.

On top of Friday’s event, WAA and OoC are holding a faculty appreciation reception on Wednesday and a staff/facilities luncheon on Friday. Friday’s event recognizes trainers, facilities managers, equipment managers, and others for their efforts.