Senior soccer player Kim Pettit came to Mississippi State for more than just soccer. Although she has recorded an impressive career on the field, her efforts off the field have made just as big of an impact on her community.
Pettit currently serves as president of the M-Club, an organization for athletes who have lettered in their respective sports and wish to be involved with the community. She has also held positions of vice president and treasurer of the M-Club.
The M-Club puts on a number of different community service projects, including Bully’s Book Blitz. This is a month-long reading campaign done in the fall at elementary schools where the MSU student-athletes seek to promote the importance of reading. The class with the highest number of reading points at the end of the month receives tickets to an MSU football game.
During the month, student athletes will go individually and have one-on-one time with the elementary students and read with them. Pettit said the community service projects are an eye-opener to how blessed she is and the great opportunity she has to give back.
“When I was growing up, I always looked up to athletes, so I want these kids to have a positive role model to whom they can look up, whether it is their dream to play a sport in college or not,” Pettit said. “As athletes we are given so many opportunities, and we are blessed with great facilities, a great athletic director and great fans, so we have a responsibility to give back because we’ve been given so much.”
Another one of the M-Club’s service projects is the Thanksgiving Can Food Drive. Members of the M-Club get the community to donate cans and then make food boxes for several families. This year, they fed 15 to 17 families and had leftover cans.
The overflow of cans was due to MSU’s simultaneous involvement in the SEC Together We Can Food Drive. This event is a challenge among all the SEC schools to see how much food in pounds they can collect.
Women’s athletic director Ann Carr said Pettit represents the University in a positive manner, which reflects well with other athletes and students as she seeks to better herself and the world around her.
“Kim is a very dedicated young lady who understands that as a student athlete, her role is not to just be an athlete on her team, but a student who represents this institution, and that might mean doing extra things,” Carr said. “I think that it inspires many athletes, but I think it is what she likes to do. She doesn’t do it to get recognition, but she knows that is a part of being a student athlete.”
This year Pettit received that recognition by being named to the SEC Community Service Team. Each SEC school has a player represented on the team, and Pettit earned MSU’s nomination.
Playing an SEC sport takes up a lot of time on its own, not to mention the work load for which every student must account, but instead of spending her extra time relaxing, Pettit has found numerous ways to give back to the community that has given her so much. Even in her final semester at State, she still involves herself with the M-Club community service programs.
This spring the M-Club is participating in the Champions Breakfast. Once a month student athletes visit different schools and eat breakfast with the kids there. The Bulldog athletes simply spend time with the kids and occasionally sign a few autographs.
For Pettit, seeing a child’s face light up at the sight of an MSU athlete is rewarding in itself. For a child to talk to an athlete he or she looks up to makes not only the child’s day but makes an impact on the athlete as well.
Pettit said she was honored and grateful to be named to the SEC Community Service Team, but it would not be possible to do without the support of the MSU Athletic Department and her fellow student athletes.
“For me it’s not so much about the title or the award, but it’s about just being able to do what I do and, at the end of the day, just seeing a child’s face light up is the reward beyond any recognition,” Pettit said. “You never know how much you mean to someone when you spend time with them, and I think it’s very humbling and rewarding to just be given such a platform as an athlete.”