The University of Minnesota Duluth athletic department "Week of Champions" presented by Northland Subway continues with award winners in recognition of the COMMUNITY.  Emily Hinz (women's soccer) and Jade Miller (men's hockey) are the recipients of the Shjon Podein Community Service Award, which is presented annually to UMD student-athletes who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the field of play and has made noteworthy humanitarian contributions in the Duluth and University communities.  The Bulldogs also announced the UMD Team Impact Award, which was awarded to the women's tennis Bulldogs for the fourth consecutive year for averaging the most community service hours during the 2019-20 school year (over 45 hours per player).




After leading the Bulldogs on the field with 17 points and eight goals during the season, the All-NSIC Third Team selection turned in more community service hours than any other senior athlete in 2019-20 -- a whopping 64 hours.  Hinz, who has recorded at least 197 community service hours in the past three years, has volunteered for a multitude of organizations. Some of those organizations include A+ Game, involving set up of games with underprivileged kids at later hours, as well as diving once a week at the Great Lakes Aquarium.  The native of St. Louis Park, Minn. also traveled to Guatemala with Vida as a medical volunteer at five clinics, and also helped at both Congdon Creek Preschool and with the Gitchi Gummi Soccer Club.  With the soccer team, Hinz participated in UMD Soccer's Kick for Causes, the Salvation Army's Adopt-A-Family program, and spent time helping students at Laura MacArthur. 





Since his arrival on the UMD campus in 2016, Miller has immersed himself in a multitude of volunteer endeavors, most notably as a coach with Minnesota Wild Special Hockey program, which is composed of kids and adults with special needs. For the past four years, the senior forward out of Minto, N.D., spent at least two to three hours nearly every Sunday from mid-November through March building friendships and making impacts on and off the ice with that program's players and parents. Miller, the recipient of the UMD men's hockey Pat Francisco Community Service Award this year, has also paid regular visits to hospitals in Duluth, Superior, the Twin Cities and Buffalo, N.Y.  A member of the 2018-19 National Collegiate Hockey Conference All-Academic Team, Miller led Chapel services for Bulldog hockey players and staff as a junior and senior and this past year was a member of the UMD Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  



Stay tuned for tomorrow as the Bulldogs unveil the awards for the Outstanding male and female student-athlete of the year.  Awards will be released each day on umdbulldogs.com and Bulldog social media channels.