Beyond the Game: Aztecs Serve San Diego

Surrounded by wagging tails, SDSU athletes spent Valentine’s Day serving at the San Diego Humane Society, a reminder that their impact reaches far beyond the game. 

Twenty five athletes across multiple sports came together to assist in critical shelter operations including nutritional care, shelter logistics, and adoption readiness. For many of the athletes, the event was more than just a volunteer shift, it was a meaningful way to give back.

“I feel like nowadays we need to help each other more and be kind to others," said Rylie Sengdara of San Diego State volleyball. "I feel like this is just a great way to give back to our community.”

The Aztecs hand-crafted 460 meatballs for canine enrichment and afternoon snacks, folded massive bins of laundry to help ensure clean kennels for the shelter’s 700+ dogs, and helped to prepare 100 adoption packets to guide a pet’s transition from the kennel to their forever home. The athletes also participated in a Valentine's Day-themed photo shoot with the animals, helping to highlight the Humane Society’s 713 adoption-ready dogs currently waiting for a home. 

“I think that doing this outside of volleyball helps our community to be safer, better, and just all around coming together as a community and helping each other is really important,” said Sengdara.

The day of service was part of an Aztecs Going Pro initiative. Aztecs Going Pro is an SDSU student-athlete development program centered around three pillars including personal growth, career development, and civic engagement. 

Serving at the Humane Society was organized as part of the civic engagement sector, where athletes decided on “Bigger Than Us” as the service theme for the year. The theme centers on community service and giving back, emphasizing the impact athletes have beyond their respective sports while recognizing their role within the greater San Diego community. “Bigger Than Us” reflects the idea that the influence of student-athletes reaches beyond personal achievement and fan support, extending into the community in ways that can create real, lasting change. 

“We’ve always seen the interest and passion for more athletes to want to give back to the community,” said Raquel Orozco, a Student-Athlete Development Assistant who helps lead the Aztecs Going Pro initiative. “A lot of them are local but we also have student-athletes from all over the country, all over the world, so they come to a city that gives them so much, and they always look for opportunities to give back.” 

Valentine’s Day at the Humane Society was just one example of the large effort SDSU student-athletes have made to be bigger than themselves and to give back. 

“Last semester we started the new year campaign ‘Bigger Than Us’ and . . . we completed over a thousand hours of community service, with one-hundred percent sport participation,” said Orozco. 

Veda Weissman, an SDSU student, saw the Humane Society’s need and recognized the role that service-driven student-athletes could play in helping. 

“They already bring in such a big audience with their games [so the idea was] to have them come and give back to the Humane Society, and kind of bring their audience as well because someone who watches volleyball or basketball might tune into this and want to adopt or foster or learn more about the Humane Society,” said Weissman. 

While the athletes used their platforms to draw attention to the Humane Society, they also rolled up their sleeves, proving that visibility and service can go hand in hand. Yet for the Humane Society, awareness and volunteering are only part of the equation. What the shelter really needs is loving homes for their animals.

Nina Thompson, Director of Public Relations for the Humane Society wants to highlight the fact that, “We have puppies here, we have any size of animal or breed of animal that you can think of, so think about the shelters and the rescues before you go to a breeder or purchase a pet.”

For fans of SDSU athletics inspired by the day’s efforts, there are also lots of ways to get involved besides adopting, such as volunteering, engaging in their Dog Day Out initiative or getting involved in the Humane Society’s foster program. 

Making a difference can be quick and easy. When you foster a dog the shelter provides you with all the materials (food, leash/harness, poop bags, and so on). You just provide the animal with love and enrichment. Furthermore, Thompson emphasized that these don’t have to be long-term commitments, any amount of time, whether that’s just for a day or weekend, makes a difference in an animal’s life. 

“If you can take a dog home for a weekend and give them a break from the kennel, maybe get some photos of them, learn about what they're like in the home, then we can use that information once they come back to the shelter and find them a better fit," said Thompson. "If somebody comes in and says I’m looking for a couch potato, we know that information because that pet spent time in a foster home.” 

Programs like weekend fostering offer pets a break from the shelter and a better chance at finding the right match. Still, Thompson stressed that people can make an impact even without bringing an animal home.

“You can do something as small and simple as share our messaging," said Thompson. "If you see a profile about an adoptable pet on our social media and you share it on your platform, maybe you have followers who will fall in love with that animal and adopt.” 

That call to action is exactly what SDSU student-athletes embraced, showing up to serve in person while also leveraging their platforms to extend the Humane Society’s reach. By trading a typical day for time spent at the shelter, they proved that leadership extends far beyond scoreboards and stat sheets, and spread some much needed love on Valentine’s Day.

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