INDIANAPOLIS-Two WAC men's basketball players – Kevin Aronis of New Mexico State and Jarell Flora of Seattle U – are among the 71 Division I nominees for the 2014 Allstate NABC Good Works Team®. The award recognizes basketball student-athletes who have made significant contributions to the greater good of their communities through volunteerism and civic service.
In its second year, the team honors players at all levels of college basketball who represent the sport’s finest in the areas of leadership and charitable achievements amongst their peers. A voting panel will select the 10-member team comprised of five student-athletes from the NCAA Division I level and five student-athletes from NCAA Divisions II, III and the NAIA from the nominees. The final roster of award recipients will be unveiled in February.
Aronis has plenty of community service accomplishments, which include volunteering at Caldito Soup Kitchen where he prepares food and serves to the homeless. He has articipated in Big Brothers Big Sisters’ volleyball tournament, Relay for Life and the Child Abuse Prevention 5K. Aronis also regularly visits Las Cruces Public Schools about being active and the importance of reading.
Flora has volunteered for the Seattle University Youth Initiative (SUYI) over the past two years as a daytime classroom teacher assistant and in the university’s after-school program at nearby Bailey Gatzert Elementary School. In his role as a classroom assistant, he helps struggling students complete homework assignments and build basic math and literacy skills. In the after-school program, Flora has participated in the Redhawk Scholars 4th & 5th grade literacy program, where he has helped students with writing structure and reading fluency.
In addition, Flora has spent time feeding the homeless population at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. In high school, he worked with the Youth Corps, and when his high school coach calls he still visits Bremerton High School to talk to students about his path to Seattle University and Division I basketball. Flora has also served as a summer program counselor with the local YMCA’s “YEAH” program, which serves 65 rising 6th graders in an intense academic prep program for middle school. He has served as a reading and writing coach, and along with his teammates, has hosted free basketball clinics at the end of each summer for all students enrolled in the summer program.