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David Eik, a senior on the Colorado College men's cross country and track & field teams, has been selected the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Character & Community Male Student-Athlete of the Week for the period beginning October 15, 2018.
 
The SCAC honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.

For many people, science and immigration don't seem to be linked, but for Eik, they have become an important part of his life. He always has loved science, but has gained a significant interest for immigration issues in the United States and Mexico during his time at Colorado College.
 
"I have always loved science, especially biology, and its implications on human and environmental health," Eik said. "I love studying diseases and how they arise and spread and finding methods for treating and containing them. That's why I am majoring in molecular biology at CC."
 
Despite his love for science, some of Eik's favorite classes and a good chunk of his community service have dealt with immigration issues.
 
"My favorite class at CC was a sociology class on immigration and globalization on the U.S.-Mexico border," he said. "I previously did not understand immigration issues very well, so this class not only educated me on the history and politics behind migration along the southern border, but it showed me firsthand what the border-region is like politically and socially."
 
"As part of the class, we worked with a pro bono law group out of a detention center in rural Texas for women and children asylum-seekers. The work we did that week was some of the hardest yet most fulfilling I've ever done."
 
That class led him to several community service projects dealing with immigration issues. Through opportunities in the sociology department, he volunteered as a legal assistant with two different nonprofit immigration law groups out of immigrant detention centers in the South.
 
The first, a couple of years ago, was a family detention center for women and children asylum-seekers in rural Texas, where he helped prepare the asylum seekers for the first steps of the legal process for obtaining asylum in the United States.
 
Then, for two weeks this past summer, he worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center in an immigrant detention center in Southern Georgia. As part of this legal team, he helped a group of lawyers screen potential clients for eligibility to be represented for bond or parole as means to release them from the detention center.
 
"Both of those experiences provided a sense of purpose and involvement in something bigger than myself," Eik said. "They helped me escape my own world and put my energy toward others who need it more than I do. Supporting people and organizations in all the layers of my community, from CC to Colorado Springs to the broader United States, gives me a sense of place within each community and connects me with the issues that are affecting those around me."
 
He also performs community service closer to home by serving on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at the school and recently started a program for shadowing and volunteering at a Colorado Springs hospital in the rehabilitation department. In addition, he and his cross country and track & field teammates put on a track clinic for local middle schoolers.
 
"This is a really fun way to expose younger kids to the sport of running as well as what it's like to be in college," Eik said. "We generally set up different stations with fun exercises, activities, and field events. It's a great way to share our love of running with others."
 
Speaking of running, Eik is a three-time all-SCAC performer, finishing in the top 10 of the conference meet each of the last three years. He helped the Tigers claim the SCAC championship in 2016 and was named to the SCAC honor roll each season as well. He also placed fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2016 SCAC Track Championship Meet.
 
Running will certainly be part of Eik's future, and that's really all that is set in stone right now.
 
"I am considering either going into physical therapy or teaching secondary science as both fields would incorporate my love for science with meaningful interactions with others," he said. "In the immediate future, however, I'm planning on taking a year or two to work and figure out exactly what career I wish to pursue.
 
"The one thing I know for sure is that I'll keep running until my body doesn't allow me to anymore. I hope to start competing in marathons after I graduate—one of my longest-standing running goals is to race in the Boston Marathon."
 
Given everything he has achieved at Colorado College, there is no doubt Eik will run in that race someday.