Using crayons and with smiles on their faces, Washington State University student-athletes drew an image on a notecard and placed it on a string that spanned from wall to wall inside a classroom at the Bohler Athletic Complex.

At first, just a few notecards were placed but in a short amount of time over 30 notecards were displayed.

Each notecard represented a flag of a country that each student-athlete in the room was from. And these student-athletes from across the world were brought together on this Friday night at the International Student-Athlete Welcome Dinner.

The dinner concluded a series of welcome back events for student-athletes from Aug. 20-24. The weeklong activities, named Week of Engagement, marked the third consecutive year of the event.

"We designed the Week of Engagement to welcome back our returning student-athletes and welcome into the Cougar family our incoming student-athletes," said Jerry Pastore, Associate Director of Athletics, Student-Athlete Development and Wellbeing.

The week began with a welcome back barbecue, Monday, followed by a showing of the movie "Black Panther," Tuesday night.

Past student-athlete Collin Henderson returned to campus to speak to all student-athletes about the importance of a positive mindset and building mental skills, Wednesday.

Bringing back former student-athletes is a consistent theme of Week of Engagement. In past years, Mike Utley and Rueben Mayes spoke to the student-athletes.

"We make a concerted effort to bring back our former student-athletes," Pastore said. "There's a bridge between current student-athletes and former student-athletes and it's an immediate connection. They have had a similar experience.

"These former student-athletes are committed to a long-term relationship with our athletes," Pastore continued. "That's the Cougar way. We are fostering that relationship so they have ongoing mentorship opportunities."

Another consistent aspect of the week is the presence of Dr. Derek Greenfield. For third time in as many Weeks of Engagements, Dr. Greenfield spoke to new student-athletes about building the Cougar Community, Thursday.

Track and field and cross-country junior Andrew Cooper remembers Dr. Greenfield's presentation two years ago when he was a freshman and it still resonates with him.

"This guy shows up with a monstrous amount of energy and it was Dr. Derek Greenfield," Cooper recalled. "I remember being blown away by everything he had to say and how he shaped my perspective about the importance of community and support for others."

Pastore received similar comments from this year's presentation from Dr. Greenfield, as well as Collin Henderson's talk.

"We received tremendous feedback from our student-athletes about Dr. Greenfield and Collin, and that it was some of the best programming they have seen since they've been here." Pastore said.

"They both have really positive and relatable messages," Pastore added about the presentations by Henderson and Dr. Greenfield. "They are talking about building the Cougar community, not only as an athlete and a scholar but as a person."

Building a community is what the international student-athletes experienced at the dinner, the newest addition to the Week of Engagement activities. The dinner was the brainchild of the Washington State University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

"Our executive board thought it was imperative for us to have a clear purpose, that every person in SAAC, every student-athlete, and everyone within athletics knew what the purpose of SAAC was and can understand how every event we do ties directly to that purpose." said Cooper, President of the SAAC.

That purpose, explained Cooper, is to foster a tight-knit community and cultivate leadership abilities of student-athletes. And the International Dinner was a phenomenal opportunity to create a sense of community for the international student-athletes.

"They are at a vulnerable place in their lives where they're coming from a different county," said Cooper. "They may not know anyone and may have many, many more barriers than others to feel like they are part of a community including language, homesickness, food, culture, everything.

"The event was geared toward providing athletes with information, and do something fun for them to get to know each other and feel like they are part of a community," added Cooper.

As the onset of the season, the Week of Engagement affords the student-athletes the chance to build their community, and have a great time in the process.

"Student-athletes have busy lives so right at the beginning of the semester we want to give them opportunities to get together and engage with each other while at the same time have some fun," Pastore said.


For more information and to join the Cougar Athletic Fund (CAF), the fundraising arm of the Washington State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, please visit cougarathleticfund.com or on Twitter at @CougarAthFund. To learn more about the Student-Athlete Wellbeing Department at WSU Athletics, please click HERE or on Twitter at @Cougwellbeing.