MIAMI (November 3, 2017) -- Prior to the two-day dual meet with Illinois Friday and Saturday, the FIU Swimming and Diving program joined forces with the Illini swimmers and divers and spent time reading to children at Carlos Finlay Elementary Friday morning for some join community service time.
 
"Once the dual meet with Illinois was planned, (Illinois) Coach (Sue) Novitsky reached out to me and told me the team was going to come into town on Thursday," said FIU Head Coach Randy Horner. "She asked me way back in the spring if we could do a joint community service event that morning and I loved the idea. I reached out to (Assistant AD for Student-Athlete Development) Liz (Augustin) and after some paperwork for the school system, everything fell into place."
 
Once the numbers were set with the athletes and coaches in attendance, the school pulled out joint groups of Illini and Panthers to head to classrooms for some reading time with the elementary school children. The feedback was all positive.
 
"It appeared that the ladies had such a good time, that they have already asked when they can go back," noted Augustin. "We hope that this positive feedback will spread to our other teams."
 
"It is very rare for two teams to pair up for a community service event, especially on the same day they are going to compete against one another," said Horner. "The schedule worked out. They loved it and it energized them to do some more volunteering."
 
FIU and Illinois start their two-day meet Friday afternoon at the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center. Friday results will be posted at FIUSports.com. Saturday's session begins at 11 a.m.
                                                                                                                                                                                    
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.