{"id":425,"date":"2014-11-25T22:25:55","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T22:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/currents.winonastateu.com\/?p=425"},"modified":"2014-11-25T22:25:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T22:25:55","slug":"volunteering-is-a-privilege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/2014\/11\/25\/volunteering-is-a-privilege\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteering is a Privilege"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ryan<\/a>

\u201cYou could see the dividends that are paid forward when you give selflessly. A lot of the things I do are just straight-up fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

By Joe Badzinski<\/p>\n

No matter how busy his days are, Ryan Gerts can always find an extra hour or two to help someone out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a task, it is a privilege to be able to do all those things,\u201d Gerts said of his dedication to volunteer work.<\/p>\n

Gerts, a senior from Bloomingdale, Illinois, who plays linebacker on the Warriors football team, recently was nominated for the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.<\/p>\n

He is one of 22 players nationwide, across all football divisions, to be recognized as leaders in character and work ethic both on and off the field.<\/p>\n

Gerts, voted co-captain by his teammates this season, is a three-time All-NSIC selection in football and has earned a 3.37 GPA in Cell & Molecular Biology. His accomplishments earned him the Harry Jackson Scholarship in 2013-14, awarded to outstanding football student- athletes. In addition, Gerts receives a renewable WSU football scholarship.<\/p>\n

David Braun, WSU\u2019s co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, nominated Gerts for the AFCA award. \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to have the opportunity to work with Ryan,\u201d Braun said. \u201cHe\u2019s a young man with an incredible demeanor, a great work ethic, and the guys on the team relate to him and look up to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerts had no plans to focus on anything but football and academics when he arrived at Winona State in 2010. That changed quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could see the dividends that are paid forward when you give selflessly. A lot of the things I do are just straight-up fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His favorite volunteer moments have come while working with kids.<\/p>\n

For several years, he has traveled to the Boys and Girls Club in St. Paul, Minnesota, to take part in Team Smile, which offers dental care to kids in need.<\/p>\n

In Winona, he\u2019s a Big Brother to Wesley, a fourth-grader at Jefferson Elementary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll play football, or Legos, work on his homework,\u201d Gerts said. \u201cIt\u2019s just mentoring him and having a fun time with him. It\u2019s one of the main highlights of my week.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could see the dividends that are paid forward when you give selflessly. A lot of the things I do are just straight-up fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

On campus, Gerts has helped out the 48-Hour Practice, an athlete- run fundraiser for clean water wells in Africa, and Love Your Melon, a charity that sells winter hats to help children battling cancer.<\/p>\n

Gerts went with other WSU students to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to visit the children\u2019s ward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really a life-changing event, just to see these kids truly light up,\u201d Gerts said.<\/p>\n

For Gerts, managing his time actually became easier once he got involved in volunteering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just started realizing there are so many opportunities out there, it\u2019s kind of motivating,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I want to give back, and I truly enjoy it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joe Badzinski No matter how busy his days are, Ryan Gerts can always find an extra hour or two to help someone out. \u201cIt\u2019s not a task, it is a privilege to be able to do all those things,\u201d Gerts said of his dedication to volunteer work. Gerts, a senior from Bloomingdale, Illinois, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[157,30,158,159,160],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wsu-magazine","tag-boys-and-girls-club","tag-mayo-clinic","tag-ryan-gerts","tag-volunteering","tag-wsu-football"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2014\/11\/Currents_Ryan_Gerts.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PQMT-6R","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}