DENVER -- July 15, 2015 -- Fort Lewis College Assistant Director of Athletics Sarah Meier was honored with the Keith Jensen Award from the Colorado arm of the National Football Foundation (NFF). The award goes to a person who has "put their heart and soul into the chapter," according to Richard DeWire, president of the NFF Colorado chapter.
 
Among Sarah's accomplishments is the chapter's Player of the Week (POW) program, which recognizes the best college football players from around the state. DeWire says that the Player of the Week program is a great way to get the organization's name in front of football fans statewide, both to promote the student-athletes and the NFF's goals of "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academic excellence in America's young people."
 
"The College POW program that Sarah administers also gives us a chance to locally honor college kids at our banquet," he says. "Normally, the local chapters' charge is to acknowledge high school scholar-athletes. To get the college kids at our banquet is huge as they are often accompanied by their coach/AD, giving our banquet some great sizzle."
 
"It was my idea to start the collegiate Player of the Week and All-Colorado Team programs early last decade," adds David Plati, associate athletic director at the University of Colorado Boulder. "But ideas are a dime a dozen -- it's always easy to come up with things to do and hope you can find someone to do them.  
 
"Sarah not only embraced the ideas but took full ownership of them (over the course of two different jobs, I might add) and has taken them to great heights. They involve a lot of work and dedication, but she finds the time to do a first class job in addition to all her duties at FLC. The end results of her work have been great for all the schools in the state, particularly the Division II programs in their battle for additional publicity."
 
"She is there every week, everything is right on," adds DeWire. "All the press releases are done; every morning we come into our offices and the Player of the Week ballot is right there. She's just done a bang up job."
 
Sarah's contributions to athletics in Colorado are greatly appreciated, though the revelation that she's a Green Bay Packers fan was enough to give some pause.
 
"The whole thing about the Packers," DeWire says, laughing. "We wish we would have known that before we awarded this plaque. It kind of changes everything."