College athletes are not limited to practicing and competing. Not even school work. A program that is sweeping the nation has allowed some athletes to help their community while helping their team.

At 9:30am, two college students in their usual sweats and hooded sweatshirts embark on a day of cool temperatures as they watch the leaves swirl on the trees against the heather-gray sky. It’s the sign of the changing season. It’s the sign of the end of baseball and the beginning of football, basketball, and ice hockey. It’s the sign of the end to another great year of sports. The two students are athletes themselves and passionate sports fans. Talking about having to get their workout in, how the San Francisco 49ers don’t deserve to play in the NFL, and wondering who they will meet next ("the guy’s name is the name of a former pro football player," said one of the students.), the students arrive at Hell 101.

In 2004, the American University rowing team started throwing around different ideas on fund raising. One of the coaches remembered a local team setting up a program called rent-a-rower and generating a lot of money off of it, said former rower and coach Caitlin Stafford. Even though she was serving as team treasurer while rowing, Stafford looked at the idea from more of a publicity standpoint. "I thought it would be a good way to build a reputation of hard work in the community," Stafford said. "It became my baby."

Jenn Oakland, also a former rower who was with the team when it started and took the project over after Stafford studied abroad for a semester, agrees that it is not all about getting money. "It’s about giving a service to the community," Oakland firmly said.

Oakland and Stafford saw the "baby" evolve. Both were well aware of where the team stood financially and how the team had already come a long ways since its reincarnation in 2001. And while neither looked at it entirely nor even mostly from a financial standpoint, the reality was that it would help the team continue to heighten its income and expand.

Still, there was the question of whether others would see it in a similar way. The rowers have their classes and own jobs to contend with, which can make it difficult to put time and effort into the rent-a-rower project. Also, some rowers may think that they deserve the money they earned by completing the odd-jobs, said Oakland.

Not all think that way though, even if it is "Hell 101" at times. Freshman rower Eli Liebman sees rent-a-rower as a way to raise money and have the opportunity to row while helping people out instead of going door-to-door, begging for money. Rowing is an expensive sport, with an annual budget of well over $10,000 which leads the athletes themselves to pay to be part of the team. "It keeps the dues down," points out Liebman.

And while it keeps the costs that the athletes pay down and builds recognition within the community, it also gives the rowers a chance to interact with their community members. "It gives you a much greater sense of the people who live in Northwest DC," Liebman said. "I really enjoy doing it because you are able to meet people who live in the community and you usually wind up having conversations with them." It makes the students feel that they actually live in the District rather than just being an outsider college student.

For some of the team members it has even led to greater opportunities. "Quite a few rowers have ended up getting jobs or making contacts," Oakland said. She said that someone called her after she had lent her service and it turned into a part-time job. Furthermore, she had a lady call her during the summer asking if anyone was around to take a job on a full-time basis until classes started. This last semester saw a couple of the student-athletes offered a deeper look at a possible internship.

The rent-a-rower program has benefitted both sides of the fence. "It's given rowers the chance to get out in the community and help everyday people who might just not have the time to paint that fence or are too weak to shovel that snow," Stafford said. When someone in the community needs help it offers a cheaper way to have an odd-job completed and brings closer unity between the university and its neighbors. It gives the community a chance to see a different side of an athletic team, agreed Oakland, Stafford, and Liebman.

January through December. Morning, afternoon, and night. Weekdays and weekends. Rent-a-rower is available at all times for the community members to give a call or send an e-mail and set up a time to have their task completed. The rowers have had great experiences and not so good times. But they continue to answer to the community from raking leaves and moving items to babysitting and even being a chauffeur. "I think it shows what a different team we are than the other teams," Oakland said.

It's back to Hell 101 for some. The two students who embarked on that path are part of the rowing team at American. That day they ended up raking, blowing, swatting, dreaming, and eating leaves. After they finished at one place, they went to the next, working until they couldn't see the whites of their eyes. The amount of leaves that were raked that day could easily have filled multiple Olympic-sized swimming pools, yet the two student-athletes did not complain. Maybe it was that they understood what Oakland and Stafford were saying. But maybe not. Either way, they gave back to the DC community; and others like them on the team do so as well on a steady basis. Although, unlike this time, most jobs are not the day after Thanksgiving.