By Richard Reeve
The BYU Air Force ROTC made a $1,000 donation for the building of a new sports facility building Saturday, Feb. 3, at half-time during the BYU men”s basketball game against the New Mexico Lobos.
About 60 cadets raised the money cleaning the south bleachers of LaVell Edwards Stadium for more than three hours last semester, said Garrett Roberts, 26, a senior from Annapolis, Md., majoring in history, and member of the BYU Air Force ROTC.
“They (the cadets) came to me with their plan to make a donation to the school,” said Col. Frank Clawson, professor of aerospace studies.
“All I could do was applaud them for doing this great service all on their own. It”s a good gesture towards the school”s future sports training facility,” Garrett said.
The new sports facility building will eventually stand where the current Smith Fieldhouse now lies, south of the Richards Building on the west side of BYU campus.
Scott Douglas, 18, a freshman from Norcross, Ga., and a member of the BYU football team, said he is thankful for the cadets” willingness to give.
“It”s cool they are helping with the new building; particularly because I will be spending a lot of time in there conditioning for football,” Douglas said.
Cadet Col. Andrew McDowell and Col. Clawson, presented the donation check to Val Hale, sports director of BYU.
The cadets said they feel that giving the donation to Hale is just one of the many ways they are fulfilling the mission of the Honor Guard by providing positive publicity, Erickson said.
“We do many service projects every month in hopes to help those all around us,” Roberts said.
After the presentation, Hale extended an invitation for all to donate to the new building.
Clawson said the cadets” donation in the half-time show was a great example of service.
“Donating to the school is a small way to give back to a university that has given us so much,” Clawson said.
Roberts said one of the cadets” purposes for making the donation is to let others know about their program.
The BYU Air Force ROTC is constantly ranked in the top 10 of university Air Force ROTC programs, Roberts said.
“Our goal is to be the No. 1 ROTC program in the country,” Roberts said.
