The University of Guelph says a $500,000 gift will go towards helping student-athletes excel both in the classroom and in competition.
The school announced the donation on Thursday from longtime supporters Larry and Joy Pearson, which will support the newly renamed Pearson Family Student-Athlete Mentor program and will help develop a new student-athlete well-being program.
Athletics director Scott McRoberts said it represents one of the most significant commitments to student-athlete well-being in Canadian university history.
“This pandemic has affected our student-athletes in a challenging way, and we know we are only starting to see some of those effects,” McRoberts said.
“Through this donation, we will be able to enhance the mental health, nutritional and sports psychology needs for our student-athletes, while also continuing to offer our tremendously successful student-athlete mentor program.”
The Pearsons have a long history with the University of Guelph. Larry played volleyball for the Gryphons in the early 1970s and coached the team to a provincial title in 1978.
He has been serving as an assistant coach since 2006.
“As an assistant men’s volleyball coach, I am so very impressed by the tremendous help and support this program provides to our student-athletes as well as the student mentors that are developed from its existence,” Pearson said.
“This is a program to be celebrated through its successes and one that is a privilege for us to be involved with.”
The mentor program began in 2006 and sees senior student-athletes serve as mentors to other student-athletes, including referring them to academic resources across campus.
The university noted that it has supported thousands of Gryphons.
Over the last 10 years, the number of Gryphon academic All-Canadians and Ontario University Athletics honour roll recipients has increased by 78 per cent and now represents one in three student-athletes, the university said.
It added that over the same period, the number of student-athletes on academic probation has decreased by 57 per cent.
Seema Abouchacra, a third-year member of the women’s rugby team and a program mentor, said the program was crucial to incoming student-athletes this past year.
“The first-years didn’t really know where to go for certain support and we acted as an intermediate ground that established relationships with them and simply told them that they weren’t alone,” she said.
“We met weekly and helped alter their study strategies to best help them succeed in an online format that was foreign to them while developing various strategies that would enable them to succeed at juggling the responsibilities of full-time student-athletes.”
The new funding is also going towards a new well-being program that will allow student-athletes enhanced access to the student support network and counselling services along with sports nutrition and sports psychology.
“Larry and I are very excited to be associated with the creation of the new student-athlete well-being program,” said Joy Pearson.
“The health and well-being of our student-athletes has become such a significant factor in achieving both academic and athletic success, and we believe this program can provide the tools and support to do so.”
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