Casey Silvestri embodies the Lasallian core values on and off the lacrosse field. More than a student-athlete; she is the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, vice president for the accounting society and part of the L.O.V.E. board.

“I don’t want student athletes to just do sports, there’s a lot for student athletes to branch out within the Lasallian community” Silvestri says.

Silvestri is currently in her senior year of college, studying accounting while working on her master’s degree at the same time. With not much free time, she manages to not only play for the Manhattan College lacrosse team, but also get involved on campus.

“I choose Manhattan College because of the 5-year academic program and Division 1 athletics, alongside the coach and the girls,” Silvestri says.

Elizabeth Gainer, head women’s lacrosse coach, sees Silvestri as an example to her other teammates.

“She instills being both a student athlete and involved in the community,” Gainer says. “She’s the all-around package.”

Even though SAAC requires a lot of time from Silvestri, she says it is her favorite club. One of the club’s main goals is getting the student-athletes together in order to create a good atmosphere in the Jasper community.

Silvestri became part of SAAC in her junior year of college. The main idea of SAAC is to break gaps between student athletes and administration.

Another part of SAAC is promoting community service amongst the student athletes. In this area, Silvestri and the committee have raised over $8,000 to give as donation for various charities.

For Gainer, the qualities that Silvestri has are “hard to come by for a student athlete.”

Kara Hodapp, sophomore marketing major, knows Silvestri as a teammate and SAAC member.

“She plays a huge leadership role for underclassmen, including myself, she’s always that go-to person” Hodapp said.

“Seeing Silvestri wearing different hats out of the lacrosse field has been very admirable for me as a coach,” Gainer said.

Silvestri is also part of the L.O.V.E. board, has gone to the New Orleans trip, has led the trip, alongside being vice president of the accounting society.

“I am an organized mess, but everything will get done when it needs to get done” Silvestri said jokingly.

“You can tell she truly cares, she puts a lot of time and effort in everything she does” said Hodapp.

Casey aspires to inspire other student athletes to take advantage of the opportunities that Manhattan College has to offer not only academically but also, extracurricular.

“She will definitely be missed” Hodapp said.