INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced Monday its first annual GLVC International Student-Athlete Week, as endorsed by the league's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, to highlight and celebrate this population of students across the Conference's 14 member institutions. This campaign, which will take place from Dec. 11-17, renews and builds upon the "Listen, Learn, Lead, Love" campaign that originally launched in the summer of 2020 to reestablish the league's commitment to inclusivity.
 
"The GLVC is comprised of 14 member institutions in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri, and features talented Division II student-athletes from coast-to-coast, as well as from around the world, who have decided to pursue their degrees and participate in intercollegiate athletics at our schools," said GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich. "The league's global reach is impressive, as witnessed by the number of individuals outside the U.S. who are currently competing for our teams.
 
"The GLVC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee readily endorsed the idea of celebrating the cultural diversity present in the Conference by launching the inaugural GLVC International Student-Athlete Week, as we continue our efforts to Listen, Learn, Lead, and Love one another from all backgrounds."
 
In conjunction with this inaugural celebration, the GLVC also revealed a 30-second public service announcement (PSA) to highlight the details of the league's international student-athletes, including information such as total students, which sports are represented, and from what countries they hail. This PSA will run not only during the celebratory week on social media and the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN), but it will also air on GLVCSN regular season and Championship broadcasts throughout the remainder of the academic year.
 
The Conference's latest PSA, which was produced by Greers N Motion in Evansville, Indiana, begins with two flags flying – one with the GLVC primary logo behind another with a collage of every flag that represents home countries of the GLVC international student-athletes. The total number of countries (90) represented appears on the screen, followed by the total number of international student-athletes (713). The country collage flag fades into the background, as the total number of sports (23) and institutions (14) are highlighted before two bar graphs rise that indicate the total number of male (492) and female (221) international student-athletes. The top-five sports (soccer, 215; swimming & diving, 154; tennis, 135; lacrosse, 50; and golf, 48) represented by international student-athletes are highlighted next in a similar bar graph animation, which precedes the conclusion of the PSA showing a full-screen image of a world map that highlights every country where GLVC international student-athletes call home.
 
The Conference and 14 member schools will participate during the week in various ways, including sharing content on social media, public address announcements during games on campus, and playing the new PSA during GLVCSN broadcasts and in venues with video boards.
 
We welcome all fans to join us in celebrating this contingent of Conference students by sharing content on social media with the hashtag #GLVCinternational and tagging the league's official accounts – @GLVCsports – on all platforms.