May 17, 2010

Garden City, N.Y. - On Wednesday, May 5, as part of the annual End of Year Athletic Banquet, the Panther Pride Program recognized its biggest fans. Of the 400+ students who signed up, Carolyn Psillos and Julianne Gerbino were rewarded for their continuous support of Adelphi's Athletic Teams throughout the year.

Both students attended the most games for all of the sports and awarded the "Ultimate Panther Prize Pack" for their achievement. The prizes included gift certificates, sweatshirts, t-shirts, umbrellas, and much more.

"I think establishing Panther Pride was a great idea," Psillos said. It gave a chance for students to really get involved with athletics, and get free prizes for doing so."

Gerbino, who is a member of women's field hockey team, was one of many student-athletes who also supported all of the teams.

"It's important that athletes support athletes because we all understand the hard work it takes to be successful and we all appreciate when others continue to encourage us," she explained.

Since it was set in motion, The Panther Pride Program has gotten the word out to all students at Adelphi to attend more games and has helped to create a more exciting atmosphere. The program will continue on next year so that students will remain involved.

The Panther Pride Rewards program was implemented in order to increase student attendance at all of Adelphi's Athletic Events. The program worked on a point system where students would receive points for all the games that they attended. Once students surpassed a certain level of points, they would receive a prize compliment of the program. Throughout the year, a total of 413 students signed up to be a part of the program.