HALEY HARRIS OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a junior outside hitter on the women's volleyball team from Brier, Wash., has been selected the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the week beginning December 10.
The SCAC Character & Community award honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.
Ever since she could remember, Harris has had a passion for taking things apart and then putting them back together.
It started with Legos and over the years evolved into her professional goal of becoming a surgeon.
As a teen, she developed a penchant for watching surgery videos, and having the ability to study the human body in the college’s cadaver lab was an opportunity only CC could provide at the undergraduate level.
Analyzing bones, muscles and nerves presented Harris the opportunity to learn about the human body and its structure. That experience also provided valuable insight with regard to taking care of her own body while competing in a grueling sport that puts wear and tear on all of her muscles, especially in the shoulders.
Obviously, her time in the lab has paid off.
In two seasons as a starting outside hitter, Harris has helped Colorado College post a combined 65-5 record, claim at least a share of back-to-back SCAC regular-season crowns and two consecutive conference tournament championships. The Tigers also were ranked No. 1 for the first time in program history during the 2017 season and made the program’s 21st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance this year.
During the recently completed 2018 season, Harris earned all-SCAC first-team honors for the first time after being named to the second team as a sophomore.
Harris ranked third in the conference averaging 3.05 kills per set. She also led the team with a career-best 354 kills and was second 398.5 points, which also was a personal high.
On the defensive side of the net, Harris demonstrated her all-around skills and precision passing by recording a single-season high of 335 digs and a .951 reception percentage on 407 attempts.
Though she is one of the hardest hitters on the team, Harris also demonstrated a softer side during her three years in Colorado Springs by devoting some of her valuable free time to community service projects, both as an individual and with the volleyball team.
Recently, the Tigers adopted Madelyn Book, a 10-year-old cancer survivor from Falcon, Colo., through The Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. Harris and her teammates stay in touch with Madelyn through constant texting and attend as many of her school events as possible.
On campus, Harris is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and served as a tutor for an FYE (First-Year Experience) course for freshmen in Blocks 1 and 2 titled ‘Mathematical Models in Biology.’
Outside the college walls, Harris serves meals to the city’s homeless at the Marian House Soup Kitchen on weekends and volunteers time at the Care and Share Food Bank, putting baskets of food together for low-income families. Her experience helping those in need has deepened her appreciation for all of her blessings.
The product of Brier, Wash., demonstrated a willingness to blaze her own trail when she chose to attend Colorado College, and last summer she fulfilled a six-week internship at the Culver City Hospital in Los Angeles.
This spring, Harris will venture even farther from home when she heads to Australia to study Organic Chemistry II and Cell Biology and at the University of Wollongong in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales.
After Harris returns from Down Under, the Molecular Biology major with a 3.56 grade-point average will have approximately 12 months to plan her next move since she likely will have a choice of destinations for medical school after graduating in May 2020.