Ayden Cherry, a senior on the Colorado College men's cross-country team from Brooklyn, N.Y., was named the SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week, announced on Nov. 29. 
 
The SCAC Character & Community Award honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics and also serve their campus and community.
 
Cherry, along with the other athletes of the XC team, regularly cleans up Monument Valley Creek, which runs parallel to the CC campus. In addition to that, Cherry volunteers with a local non-profit called Food to Power, whose purpose is to create multi-faceted programming working together to cultivate a healthy, equitable food system in the greater Colorado Springs community. 
 
"At Colorado College, it is a very tight community, and it is very hard getting out of that bubble, but I enjoy engaging with the broader Colorado Springs community," Cherry said. "Community service allows me to engage with the communities in ways that I wouldn't have experienced if I hadn't done that community service."