Beach volleyball player Jessi Meghreblian ’26 interacts with an elementary school student during a holiday reading tour in the community. Photos by Brittany Iamele
Adam Hill tried his best to keep up with the expert Lego builders at the Police Athletic League of St. Petersburg on December 4.
The Eckerd College men’s soccer player was one of 15 students participating in this particular stop of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Holiday School Reading Tour—which brought 45 Eckerd athletes to three schools and a community program in December.
“Everyone involved was great to be around, and the kids were some of the funniest I’ve met,” says Adam, a junior economics and international business student from DeLand, Florida. “I can’t wait for the next opportunity to go back.”
Student-athletes visited Lealman Avenue Elementary, Fairmount Park Elementary and Woodlawn Elementary schools in addition to the PAL to read aloud to classes, sing songs, play games and spend time with children from across the community. Adam says he had initially selected Eckerd as his baccalaureate college because of its great alumni network and community. Now he’s excited for future opportunities to serve St. Petersburg.
Eckerd’s Associate Director of Athletics, Internal Operations and Compliance/Senior Woman’s Administrator Becky Clark says, “One of the principles of Division II is community engagement, and our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee really wanted to focus on that piece this year. In fact, we formed a subcommittee just for our community engagement efforts, and the group’s first project was to do a holiday reading tour.”
Soccer player Adam Hill ’26 at the Police Athletic League of St. Petersburg
Adam was impressed the children’s Lego skills.
The tour included athletes from all the sports not currently competing and gave them a chance to meet local children where they are.
“I attended each one of our sessions and loved to see the firsthand impact it made on the young students, and hearing all their questions was so cute,” Clark says. “They had so many questions about college, classes, sports and how it all works.”
Jessi Meghreblian, a junior beach volleyball player and environmental studies student from Franklin, Tennessee, found herself smiling as she sang Christmas songs with a group of enthusiastic elementary schoolers.
“It was amazing,” Jessi says. “I wish we got more time with them, but it was so nice getting off of campus and spending time with the kids. I would love to have the opportunity to do this again.”
Serving the community is just one more perk of attending Eckerd, Jessi says. “I chose Eckerd because I love the small community feeling and the connections that Eckerd provides,” she explains. “Eckerd felt like home as soon as I stepped on campus for the first time, and the people on my team have made Eckerd my home away from home.”
Eckerd’s Athletic Director Tom Ryan ’87 is proud of his Advisory Committee and athletes for creating this meaningful opportunity.
“The reading tour was an extremely successful event, especially in our first year running it,” he says. “There was an overwhelming response by our student-athletes to participate, and their enthusiastic spirits were evident as they reflected on the weeklong activities. Eckerd student-athletes never cease to amaze me at how they thrive and impress everyone when they give back to the community.”
