CARLISLE, Pa. - During the course of our lives we all try to make an impact in our community and in late September that was exactly what the Dickinson football team did when they hosted a clinic for local special needs youth inside the Kline Center.

The team partnered with current Dickinson first-year student Ellie Smarr who has been organizing these events with various Dickinson athletic programs since she was in the sixth grade. "My science teacher created a project for us to work on every Friday called a Passion Project" she recalled. "It was a project where we would have to research and bring attention to a specific issue that we felt strongly about. My brother Nick, who has Down Syndrome made this decision easy for me as I decided to raise awareness for kids with disabilities. The idea of running clinics was not originally on my radar, but Nick talked about sports all the time while I was designing the project so it created an idea" Smarr added. "I started with the baseball team and Coach Hanson as a way to get the kids out in the sun and enjoy a fun day of learning a great sport. However, it quickly evolved into something that I never expected as I have now done 13 clinics with Dickinson program, including football, soccer and basketball."

All throughout the morning the Red Devil football players cheered on and led drills with the kids for a day filled with fun and laughs. Dickinson football head coach Brad Fordyce had this to say "This has been an amazing experience for our team and coaches. The joy on everyone's face was priceless throughout the course of the day. Being engaged with the community and seeing the impact we can have on a group of kids and their families is unbelievably rewarding. We appreciate everyone's effort and commend Ellie and her family for the hard work and dedication".  Devils quarterback Presley Egbers echoed his coach's sentiments saying "The camp was a great opportunity for our team to connect with the Carlisle community. It was a great service opportunity and we loved spending the day with the kids and teaching them the game."

"It was as always a very enjoyable experience working with Coach Fordyce and the football team" Smarr said. "They did an amazing job with the clinic. The team was extremely active with the students and made a great effort to get to know the students' names which is a great thing to see."