MSUM Honored as Recipient of 2023 Division II Award of Excellence
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — MSUM has been named the 2023 recipient of the Division II Award of Excellence to honor its work with Joe’s Hereos and Make-a-Wish North Dakota. It is the highest non-athletic NCAA-sponsored award an institution can achieve.
The award was presented to MSUM athletic director Chad Markuson at the annual NCAA convention in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday morning. MSU Moorhead was named a finalist, along with 22 other institutions, on January 4. The award is intended to celebrate, recognize and champion a school’s community engagement efforts.
“It was such an honor to be named a finalist. To win the Award of Excellence is very humbling and exciting for our student athletes,” said Markuson. “Their work in the community is both inspiring and aligns great with NCAA Division II core values.”
MSUM’s Student-Athlete Advisort Committee put together a massive event to honor their friend and Dragon superfan Joe Keller. Through SAAC’s work with Make-a-Wish North Dakota, MSUM helped raise $4,385 for Make-a-Wish North Dakota to honor their friend who had previously had his wish granted by Make-a-Wish North Dakota. Keller was an MSUM student, superfan and athletics intern with muscular dystrophy who passed away in the summer of 2021.
“I appreciate the NCAA’s commitment to recognizing student athletes for their contributions outside of their sports. Our Dragon student athletes exemplify MSU Moorhead’s core values of grit, humility, and heart—both on and off the playing field,” said MSUM President Dr. Anne Blackhurst. “They inspire my Dragon Pride every day and I’m thrilled they’ve received national recognition for their extraordinary engagement with our community.”
MSUM’s SAAC plans to host their annual Make-a-Wish night on February 18 at MSUM’s basketball games against the University of Mary.
About MSUM’s 2023 Award of Excellence Submission
MSUM’s Student-athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) used their platform to help raise funds for Make-A-Wish while honoring Dragons superfan Joe Keller (a Make-A-Wish recipient and advocate). Keller was an MSUM student, member of the MSUM GO! TEAM and Dragon athletics superfan who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of five. Keller had helped the MSUM Student-Athlete Advisory Committee with past Make-A-Wish fundraising efforts. Keller passed away in the summer of 2021.
When the athletics department asked student-athletes how they wanted to honor their friend, they rallied to pay Joe’s gift and cause forward in a way that couldn’t have been imagined. MSUM connected with Joe’s family for help and they offered to buy 500 Joe’s Heroes t-shirts for the first 500 fans with Keller in a custom Dragons jersey. The sale of the Joe’s Heroes shirts in the past had helped raise the funds for Joe’s Make-A-Wish trip years ago and gave the department the title for the event. Both teams and coaches also wore the shirts for warm ups.
MSUM’s SAAC had massive success with “Workouts for Wishes” in the 2021 campaign as longtime sponsor Papa John’s donated $1 for every workout up to $1,000. Reusing this tactic helped push the campaign on social media so that those who didn’t have the money to donate could still help out. Doing so boomed the reach and awareness of the campaign with local celebrities and Joe’s high school network jumping in as well. MSUM’s campus jumped in and named the basketball games surrounding the event their annual Dragon Frost event too, bringing in a 22′ inflatable slide, prizes and free pizza at their “Indoor Tailgate”. It was Senior Night for men’s and women’s basketball. Finally, MSUM brought in the local and nationally known FM Acro Team to perform at halftimes of both games who gladly donated their time to support Joe.
The night was an absolute smash. Make-A-Wish and Joe’s Heroes content was everywhere in-game, on broadcasts and in the community. Overall, MSUM raised $4,385 for Fargo Make-A-Wish Foundation (almost tripling the best Make-A-Wish campaign MSUM has ever done), had over 1,000 fans at both games, picked up two big wins and most importantly, Joe’s family was over the moon about the department’s tribute to their son.The impact to Make-A-Wish, MSUM’s campus, Dragon athletes and the Fargo-Moorhead community was huge.
About the Division II Award of Excellence
Each active Division II school and conference is eligible to submit its best community engagement activity and/or event that promotes student-athletes giving back and serving as leaders within their communities. A few initiatives schools may consider include student-athlete leadership development, educational programming, military appreciation, game environment, Make-A-Wish® or Team IMPACT®.
Monetary prizes are given for first ($2,500), second ($1,250) and third place ($1,000), and a $500 prize is given to one winner in each of the 23 Division II conferences, one winner representing independent institutions and at-large honorees. All prize money is to be used toward future community engagement initiatives.
The University of Minnesota Duluth won the 2022 Award of Excellence for its student-athlete led Green Bandana Project initiative that focuses on mental health advocacy.
The Award of Excellence began as the Division II Community Engagement Award in 2008, and it was accompanied by a Division II Game Environment Award in 2010. At the 2014 Convention, Division II combined the two awards to allow the division to give larger prizes and prestige to those member conferences or institutions that participated.