TERRE HAUTE —
For more than five hours on Monday, Molly Nasser tied ribbons on gift baskets intended for hospitalized children across the country, part of an unprecedented service project undertaken by a Super Bowl host city.
She also had the opportunity to shake hands with former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, a sponsor and spokesman for the Super Baskets of Hope program. He thanked Nasser and other students for their efforts.
The service project was just one of several activities Nasser will be involved with this week in Indianapolis as a Super Bowl XLVI student ambassador.
She is a senior at Terre Haute South Vigo High School.
The opportunities she’ll have in events leading up to Sunday’s game are “definitely once-in-a-lifetime,” she said.
Four years ago, she and her aunt, Mika Cassell, represented the Vigo County School Corp. and the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee by flying to Dallas, Texas, to deliver Indianapolis’ Super Bowl bid.
She delivered a bid to the Dallas Cowboys, one of 32 National Football League teams that received a bid package. Nasser joined 31 other central Indiana eighth-graders who took bid packages to the other NFL teams.
Now, her role as student ambassador is opening the door to many experiences the average high school student won’t have.
“It’s just been awesome,” she said, and she’s made several new friends. “I’m definitely going to keep in contact with a lot of them.”
She has the volunteer attire, including a blue and white knit scarf and a jacket. Each student ambassador also received a blue shirt with a Super Bowl logo.
The use of student ambassadors to deliver bids four years ago was a different approach than had been used by other cities in the past, she said. Some of the students got to meet team owners as well as football players.
The group of 32 have had other volunteer opportunities the past four years. Now, it culminates with activities leading up to Sunday’s game.
Monday’s service project, which involved about 1,000 volunteers, took place at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The project will deliver 7,000 gift-filled baskets to hospitalized children in each of America’s 32 NFL markets — including Riley Hospital for Children.
It was tiring, but fun, she said. “It went by pretty fast,” she said.
Later, she and other ambassadors explored Super Bowl Village. Around 4 p.m. the student ambassadors went to the Verizon stage, where they received recognition for their efforts four years ago. “It was projected on screens throughout the Village,” she said.
But organizers also included pictures of the students as eighth-graders. “Everyone was mortified,” she said.
The ambassadors received tickets to the NFL Experience, where Nasser participated in several events, such as a 40-yard dash and football throw.
In the Village, she got to do the Super Dash energy wheel, which looks like a human hamster wheel. The goal was to run 100 simulated yards.
On Thursday, she’ll volunteer at an NFL Sports Career Expo, and on Saturday, she’ll volunteer at another service event, a “Souper Bowl of Caring.”
After those events, she’ll have more time to spend at the Super Bowl Village. She’s amazed at the “complete transformation of the downtown street.”
This weekend, she’ll have her camera close, hoping to see a few celebrities.
Ambassadors initially thought they would get tickets to the Super Bowl, but that’s not the case. While that’s somewhat of a disappointment, “with all the things we’ve done the last four years and the friendships and the relationships we’ve made, it’s okay. That means more than going to a football game,” she said.
But if she had the opportunity, going to the Super Bowl “would still be awesome.”
More than likely, she’ll be watching the game in Terre Haute, cheering for the Giants. “I don’t think Hoosiers should root for the Patriots when they are playing in the Colts arena,” she said.
The student ambassadors expect to meet perhaps one last time at an after-Super Bowl party in a few weeks.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Goodwill: Terre Haute South student Molly Nasser is a student ambassador to the Super Bowl.
Discussion
South student serving as Super Bowl ambassador
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