University of Tennessee Athletics
Gabriel Named to 2016 SEC Community Service Team
May 11, 2016 | Softball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --Tennessee senior Erin Gabriel has been named to the SEC Softball Community Service Team for the second straight year, as announced by the league office on Wednesday morning.
The conference sponsors community service teams for all 21 league-sponsored sports. The SEC Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. Gabriel is the seventh player in program history to be named to the SEC Community Service team and the first player at Tennessee to be named to the team twice.
Gabriel has been one of the most active players on the team in terms of community service. The Poland, Ohio native has been heavily involved in a number of community service projects while in Knoxville. This year, she worked with Goals for Girls, teaching a nutrition education class to underprivileged elementary age girls at a local elementary school. Gabriel was a part of the Light The Night Walk, which funds research to find cures and ensure access to treatments for all blood cancer patients. She assisted with the construction of a home for a family in Knoxville with Habitat for Humanity. Gabriel also participated in Striking Out Autism softball games at a local elementary school as well as the Martin Luther King Day Parade.
With Angels of Hope, she assembled care packages for those in need with food and essential household items. Gabriel has been active in activities sponsored by the Tennessee athletic department, including the annual Holiday Dinner for the homeless and the annual VOLOween Halloween event. She helped decorate Christmas trees for the Fantasy of Trees auction to raise money for the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. Gabriel has also taken part in the Knoxville Challengers annual softball game with the mentally disabled and the Pat Summitt Race for a Cure. She is also the softball team’s representative for Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Last season, Gabriel was named a 2015 NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete and a member of the 2015 Capital One Academic All-American third team. She is the recipient of the 2015-16 Jane R. Savage Scholarship (for nutrition majors) and the 2014 Marilyn & Bobbie Elrod Thornton Center Endowment Award. A two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and a member of the 2013 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll, Gabriel has earned a spot on the Dean’s List every semester.
The entire SEC Community Service Team can be seen HERE.
