Sioux Falls, S. D. — With lessons in leadership being the theme of the day, Augustana Athletics staff and student-athletes hosted nearly thirty students from Garfield Elementary School in Sioux Falls on Thursday. 

The students are part of Garfield's community leader lunch and ranged in age from kindergarten through fifth grade.  Each month, students who have exhibited good leadership are selected to participate in a leadership lunch. This presents a chance for students to visit with various leaders in the community and see how the habits they are learning can translate into jobs and opportunities.  When the call came to the athletics department to host, the answer was an easy one.

"The Sioux Falls community is such a big part of everything we do so this was a natural way for us to partner together and it's part of what we call building champions in the classroom, in competition and in the community," said Director of Athletics Josh Morton.  "I always love watching our student-athletes interact with the kids and I hope they inspired some future Vikings. "

The day started with a tour of the athletics facilities before a group lunch and Q & A with Vikings student-athletes.

"The kids are really knowledgeable about leadership, they've been going over the values in class so they gave us good questions," said Bailey Neises, a junior wrestler and Athletic Training major.  "It's pretty cool to come and see older athletes and people you aspire to be come and talk to you and it was great to learn more about them."

The day ended with a walk on the Kirkeby-Over Stadium turf and autographs from the Augustana student-athletes.