RU Women's Tennis Engages in Community Service Endeavors
Feb 17 | Women's Tennis
PISCATAWAY, NJ – The Rutgers women’s tennis team, under the direction of head coach Ben Bucca, has recently engaged in two unique community service efforts.
Last week, Bucca donated 300 tennis balls to the New Jersey Chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The mission of the association is to empower persons who are deaf or hard of hearing to function independently by promoting universal rights and optimal opportunities for such persons, from infancy through adulthood, to learn to use, maintain, and improve all aspects of their verbal communication, including their abilities to speak, speech read, use residual hearing and process both spoken and written language. Research has shown that one of the significant obstacles that hearing impaired students have when placed in a mainstream classroom is the screeching sound of desks and chairs. The used tennis balls are placed on the bottom of the legs for the desks and chairs which minimizes the noise in the classroom.
“This is fantastic that are used tennis balls can promote the education of our children,” said Bucca. “This is recycling at its best. It is our privilege to partner with the Alexander Graham Bell Association knowing that our used tennis balls are helping out children throughout the State of New Jersey.”
Additionally, junior Jill Markowitz (Forest Hills, NY) has been appointed by the Mayor of the City of New Brunswick as the Rutgers representative for the New Brunswick Rent Control Board. The City of New Brunswick has a rent control ordinance and the Rent Control Board enforces the rent control laws. The purpose of the board is to allow owners to receive a fair return on their investment and to protect tenants from steep annual rent increases. The process allows for mediation for rent disputes and for binding decisions regarding allowable rent increases.
The board consists of five members and two alternates, with at least one tenant, one landlord and one homeowner. It is also required that a student tenant be given consideration for the tenant or tenant alternate position. The board has the ability to establish rental increase limits, conduct hearings to settle disputes, grant surcharge relief and set rules and regulations to implement the rent control ordinance.
“This is a great opportunity for Jill to learn about how government works,” said Bucca. “She is extremely well qualified and deserving to be entrusted with this important government function. I am sure she will be an excellent voice for all of the students who rent in the City of New Brunswick. There is no doubt that Jill will be a great asset to the Board.”
Markowitz, who plays second singles and second doubles, was the Scholar-Athlete for last year’s team and was on the Dean's List for the Fall 2004 semester.
In addition to the above, the team continues to deliver Challah Bread to cancer patients of Dr. Michael Nissenblatt who are in St. Peter's University Hospital or Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
Rutgers is currently 2-2 on the season and opens to home portion of its schedule this weekend with matches against Temple (Friday, Feb. 18) and Syracuse (Sunday, Feb. 20).
