Rising Senior Anna Gelbach Tabbed as New SAAC President

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Selected by her Bulldog peers, rising Track & Field senior Anna Gelbach will serve as the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president for 2015-16 school year.

An active member of the SAAC since her freshman year, Gelbach was voted to become president during a meeting last spring.

“I was very excited and proud to have been elected by my peers to take over for Joey Cutting as SAAC president,” said Gelbach. “It really means a lot to me that the other student-athletes believe in me to be a representative of them, not only in the athletic department but to this campus and community as a whole.”

One of Gelbach's main goals is to get the UNC Asheville overall student body more involved with the student-athletes, athletic department and at athletic events. She also wants to continue the work of the Bulldog athletic department in the community and be a voice for the student-athletes.

“Anna has outstanding leadership skills, a great work ethic and a passion and commitment to SAAC,” said Terri Brne, the SAAC's athletic department liaison. “I am proud of her achievements thus far and look forward to working with her as SAAC President for the 2015-16 academic year.”

An active member of the SAAC since the fall 2012, Gelbach has represented Asheville at the Big South Leadership Conference three times, most recently earlier this July as one of eight Bulldog student-athletes that took part in this year's conference.

Heavily involved with the SAAC decisions the past two years with Cutting, Gelbach said she has learned a lot from the former president.

“Working closely with Joey over the two years has taught me so much. I am very excited to use his knowledge and gain some more while making this student organization even more amazing then it is now,” she said.

While serving as the voice for the Bulldogs' 200+ student-athletes is satisfying enough, there many rewards for the work that the SAAC does, but one thing stands out above the rest for Gelbach.

“The most rewarding thing about SAAC has been seeing how the community involvement has grown over the past three years. Boofest attendance has increased tremendously, we are working closely with having more kids groups involved in athletic events as well as seeing what all the athletes are accomplishing with their own team and personal volunteering.”

Gelbach, the rest of the Bulldog student-athletes and the UNC Asheville campus community begin fall classes on August 17.