The Student Athlete Leadership Team otherwise known as SALT is taking WC Cares to a whole new level at West Clermont High School.
“SALT is basically just a big group of our athletes here and we are just working to unite and basically become closer with one another, unite sports teams and also just make an impact on the school and definitely our community,” explained Sophomore Nakyhia Rettinger.
This is the second year of the club 56 student athletes are part of it this year. The students range from freshman to seniors.
Students explain why they enjoy being part of SALT.
“I'm striving to be better as a person and also an athlete and really it helps me also be a leader on my team, not just in the school, but it also plays an impact on how I'm viewed like on my sport team and how I can contribute to my teammates and like build into them,” said Rettinger.
“100 percent just to give back to the community. You know, especially me growing up in the community, it means a lot and the fact that I can just give back to everything and, you know, influence younger students is huge for me because that's what life needs to come to nowadays,” said Gavin Speranza, a Senior.
“For me, I wanted to be in SALT because I think I was more of a selfish player, and I wanted to be able to help myself learn how to be a better teammate and be a better athlete,” said Merin Oliver, a junior at West Clermont High School. “And our SALT leader, she helped us be able to just be able to talk about just everything in general and just have our own experiences to be able to be a better athlete.”
So far this year SALT has given back in various ways. They’ve cleaned up trash at the stadium after fall sports. They’ve written teacher appreciation letters. And they gave back to some of the areas most vulnerable including a toy drive at Christmas time and most recently a stuffed animal throw at a basketball game to benefit foster children.
While the club continues to grow at the high school, many of the student athletes say they’d like to see it expand in the future to younger students.
“I think we should reach: the littles, so little kids or middle schoolers or elementary schoolers who want to get involved in sports but are too scared or don't have a community and people to lean on. I think salt would be a perfect opportunity for that,” said Skylar Rudd.
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