GREENSBORO, N.C. — Early in the mornings in east Greensboro student athletes from UNC-Greensboro spend at least two days a week at Gateway Education Center helping students get off the school buses.
The plan to volunteer at the school dedicated to special needs students was introduced to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee by baseball player Luke Jenkins at the beginning of the school year.
Jenkins has had a special relationship with Gateway his whole life.
A redshirt sophomore utility player for the UNCG baseball team, Jenkins has volunteered at Gateway since he was a kid.
The Grimsley High School graduate helped his mother Jill, who was the PTA president for 18 years at Grimsley, at Gateway.
Jenkins' older sister Annabelle was a student at Gateway for 20 years, and he was there with her all the time and is continuing to have an impact at the school as a college student.
"I remember being a young kid and seeing other people come and give back, so for me to do that with the platform I've been presented, I think is pretty cool," Jenkins said.
One by one the buses arrive at Gateway, and Principal Sara Jones is there checking each student's name off the list while watching the UNCG student athletes help them get off the bus and into the school.
"Our students require a lot of help in the morning so to have the UNCG athletes here in the morning is a tremendous help so that our staff can be in helping our students in the classroom, so it is is wonderful," Jones said.
The relationship between Jones and Jenkins goes back a long time because of Jenkins' sister, so she knew her students were in good hands when the UNCG athletes started volunteering.
"They've come to our fall festival and interacted, they're doing some other thing with the school besides the bus duty, so it's a relationship that's developed that's been really cool," Jones said.
On the baseball field, Jenkins is in the process of coming back from shoulder surgery and plans to make his debut for the Spartans sometime in March, and while working his way back to the diamond, he not only volunteers at Gateway but goes to his parents' house to visit his big sister.
"We'll sit in here and watch movies, watch some shows. She's a Disney Channel fan," Jenkins said.
He is hoping to help Gateway with its annual spring fundraiser, the Gator Gallop, and continue volunteering with the rest of the UNCG student athletes this year.