More than 100 people gathered on the athletic turf fields for MSU Texas’ Field Day April 16.

Reagan Foster, assistant director in athletics for student athlete and community outreach, said, they contacted different organizations in town to spread the word. Unsure of how successful they were with reaching out, Foster said, she was pleased and surprised with the turn out.

“It’s great to see so many kids made it out. We tried to do it last year but it was cancelled due to bad weather,” Foster said.

Foster said, the student athlete advisory committee put together this Field Day to give back to the community.

“Our community is always so supportive of every athletic team. We love when they come to watch our games and we wanted to do something to give back to them,” Foster said. “The idea behind having a Field Day is to get kids outside and active while having fun.”

Colby and Susan Bobbitt, local parents who brought their kids, said, they had a great time at the Field Day.

“Our sons are having a blast. Our oldest actually made a new friend and they have been running around playing together this entire time,” Bobbitt said.

The Field Day included soccer, musical chairs, tug-of-war, dunk booth, bounce house, softball, basketball, football, a volleyball relay race and free food.

Foster said, It not only benefited kids in the community but also the student athletes.

“This is a stressful time of year for every athlete. With having to make sure they are keeping up with classes, working out, going to practice and getting ready for finals, this gets them outside. They’re able to clear their mind by interacting with the kids and acting like kids themselves,” Foster said.

Sarah Glawe, volleyball and education junior, said, she enjoys interacting with the kids while helping with the relay race.

“This is a great way to bring the community kids together and get them running around burning off energy. If I was one of these kids I would totally be in the bounce house right now, but overall I just love interacting with the kids,” Glawe said.

Sarah Stewart, president of student athlete advisory committee and chemistry senior, said this was all made possible by the university winning the 2019 DII Award of Excellence from the NCAA.

“We [student athlete advisory committee] were able to rent out the dunk booth and buy everything we needed with part of the money we received from our award of excellence for 24 strong week,” Stewart said.

Foster said, she was happy the weather was corporative this year, and the student athlete advisory committee is hoping to be able to have another Field Day next year.