Panther Profile: Jerome Lowery
12/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Dec. 8, 2011
In the midst of an 18-credit semester, an independent study and the 2011-12 track and field season beginning, one may think senior Jerome Lowery is already quite an accomplished student-athlete. But if all of that weren’t impressive enough, the Sharon Hill, Pa. native devotes eight to 10 hours every week to his responsibilities as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Lowery, a captain of the men’s track and field team at the University of Pittsburgh, is constantly on the move, even when he’s not on the track. As president of SAAC, his duties include organizing a monthly meeting, planning community service events and acting as a liaison with the athletic administrators on campus.
“I had to develop a time management system,” Lowery stated. “I carry a planner around with me everywhere I go. It has helped me develop better organizational skills.”
SAAC has several projects in the works. In addition to planning a community service project for the spring, the committee is working on their first-ever newsletter.
“We are trying to bring the ‘SAAC’ name to the rest of the student-athletes who aren’t sure of who we are or what we do,” Lowery said.
A group of both SAAC members and non-members are currently working on a publication named “Panther Growl” that will focus on the daily life of the typical student-athlete. One of the newsletter’s first feature stories highlights the families represented within multiple teams at Pitt.
“There are three sets of brothers on the wrestling team, a set of twin sisters, a sister-coach duo on the tennis team and twin brothers on the track team,” he stated.
Lowery can contribute on that topic from first-hand experience, as he and his twin brother Jermaine make up the familial pair on the men’s track and field team. He has benefitted greatly from having his brother nearby.
“We both encourage each other back and forth,” Lowery explained. “Having him here is a constant reality check to ensure we are both staying up on our school work. We challenge each other on and off the track.”
The brothers not only look out for each other, but for their team as well.
“There’s a saying amongst the athletes,” Lowery noted. “They call us ‘Coach Twin’ and come to us to get information or advice. I’m grateful to be one of the leaders on the team.”
Recently, Lowery utilized his leadership role in helping to organize the “Run Down Hunger” campaign. During the team’s Blue-Gold Meet, fans were encouraged to bring a canned good as a donation toward the fund raiser to aid local families.
In the past, Pitt track and field has been known to get involved with the community. Lowery and his team have worked to keep that tradition alive.
“We put a lot of time into planning our community service events,” he said. “We collected about five or six boxes of canned goods and they’ll be donated to CHS Oakland Food Pantry.
“I always think back to what my mother taught me,” She said ‘no matter what you do in life or what you become, always remember to give back to others.’”