Six students will work as Gameday directors for the 2017 football season, coordinating activities during the inaugural season of Wildcat Stadium.

According to the Office of Alumni Relations, the students hired to spearhead activities each Gameday, a when football games are played at home at the new stadium, are:

• Bailey Goodenough, junior middle school social studies major from Abilene;
• Blake Anderson, sophomore youth and family studies major from Arlington;
• Trey Dennis, sophomore marketing/management major from Abilene;
• Sarah Brooks, sophomore kinesiology major from Lubbock,
• Rowdy Riggins, freshman ad/PR major from Abilene; and
• Sophie Morrow, freshman speech pathology major from Hico.

“The students we chose all had a great desire to see more student involvement on Gameday,” said Samantha Adkins, assistant director of alumni relations. “We felt like their talents and passion would make this possible. Ultimately they want to create an atmosphere where our student athletes feel supported.”

Wildcat Stadium’s Grand Opening activities will be Sept. 15-16 with football’s first home game on Sept. 16. Anderson said the student directors are already working together to plan ideas that will make the upcoming football season memorable for ACU students, faculty, and alumni. They will continue to plan ideas and activities leading up to the opening of the stadium.

“In the future, I want to remember exciting and fun times as a student and I think involvement at athletic events is an important part of that,” Anderson said. “I want to be able to say that I had a part in making Gameday what it is.”

Adkins sent an email to students in April with information regarding the positions and how they will work. Every student returning in the fall semester was invited to apply, but only six were chosen.

Adkins’ email stated that the main qualifications of a student director would be a student who is “energetic, an ACU sports fan, well connected to the student body, creative, and able to work all five home games.” The new directors will also receive a $1,000 stipend for their work during the fall semester.

“We had 77 students complete the initial application process,” Adkins said. “We had lots of great candidates but we could only choose about six of them.”