Dickinson State University (DSU) held its annual Meet the Hawks experience Sept. 6, at the Biesiot Activities Center (BAC), an event that invites children from the community to come meet the DSU student athletes. For DSU Assistant Professor of nursing, Teresa Bren and her family, this year’s event turned into something extraordinary.

Here is her story: 

For the first time, I took my kids to the Meet the Hawks event at the BAC. I picked them up from school, and they were very excited to hear we were going to attend. Maddie, age 9, was excited to meet the women’s volleyball, basketball, and softball players as these are sports she has participated in and enjoys. Gavin, age 6, was anxious to meet the football players. Recently, he has fallen in love with the sport of football; when I initially told him that I have three football players in the DSU nursing class I teach, his eyes got large and he asked, “Do you think they could teach me to play?”  

We arrived at the BAC and proceeded to the line where the kids pick up their t-shirts, a hot dog, chips and a pop. All the athletes were on the field, and Maddie and Gavin appeared to be soaking in their first experience of this event. While other kids were chitchatting around us, these two were quietly observing. We got to the front of the line, and the kids received their T-shirt, food and beverage. We sat down in the grass on the hill to the east of the field while they ate and observed the other kids getting signatures of the athletes on their t-shirts. It did not take them long to consume their hot dog and put their t-shirts on to receive the athlete signatures. Maddie quickly found a friend, and they were off to the field. Gavin stuck by my side until we approached the field and he was quickly off himself. I found myself visiting with some previous and current students as I wandered the field; I would spot Maddie in lines and groups of kids getting her shirt signed, but where was Gavin?  

I continued to wander the field and spotted Gavin in the distance, but as I moved closer, he was off in the other direction. He was safe, so I let him enjoy the experience. After many of the athletes had left, I decided to gather my troops and leave. We were exiting the BAC and on our way out spotted a friend who was counting the signatures on her son’s shirt. “Sixteen! You got 16 signatures,” she said. Her son’s eyes beamed with amazement. With lack luster, I saw Gavin hang his head at the boy’s response to his many signatures. As we walked to the car, I saw Gavin had only one signature on his right shoulder, but I didn’t think much of it as he was probably busy playing around with friends he had found. We made it to the car; I buckled everyone in and headed home.  

On the drive home, I heard a quiet voice from the back seat say, “I’m so mad at myself.” It was Gavin. I asked him why he was mad at himself, and with a low and sad tone he said, “I was too shy to ask them to sign my shirt. I am just so mad at myself.” He was genuinely upset with his inability to request the athletes to sign his shirt and must have been in the right place at the right time to receive the one signature he did obtain. No matter how hard we tried to cheer him up, he could not shake his disappointment.  

Knowing how disappointed he was, I took his shirt to work with me the next day because I have a number of athletes as students in my class. I told the students what happened and asked if they would sign his shirt thinking seven student athlete signatures beat one. They not only agreed to sign his shirt, but suggested taking the shirt with them to their team practices to have their teammates sign it as well. I could not turn down the offer.  

Gavin received his DSU T-shirt shortly after his seventh birthday (Sept. 15) full of signatures from the women’s basketball and volleyball teams, the wrestling team and the football team. The work these students went through to circulate Gavin’s t-shirt through the teams spoke to the level of care our DSU family holds for each other. I hope Gavin is a Blue Hawk one day; for now, the Blue Hawk athletes are his heroes. 

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After we received Bren’s story, we reached out to the football team to arrange for Gavin to meet them in person! The pictures are worth 1,000 words!