SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University's Forgotten Angels departs Sunday for a week long trip to St. Lucia, where the group will teach sports clinics to local children and coaches, and will deliver the NCAA's Student Athlete-Affairs presentation to the local district education office.

This marks the third consecutive year that the Forgotten Angels will travel away from Pennsylvania for a service project. In the program's first year, it traveled to Haiti to deliver school supplies and teach sports clinics to underprivileged children. Last year, the group visited New Orleans to assist in rebuilding efforts and teach youth clinics in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Rock head women's soccer coach Noreen Herlihy has been involved with the program since its inception three years ago.

“I'm very excited to be a part of this group of fine Slippery Rock student-athletes,” said Herlihy. “It speaks directly to the character of these students that they have the desire to help others so far away from home. Slippery Rock will be represented very well by this group.”

Herlihy will travel with the group as the lone SRU staff member, overseeing a group of nine undergraduate and two graduate students.

Softball players Jess Kortz, Kendra Kutz, Sam Pfister and Shauna Walker will be joined by volleyball players Izzy Kelbley and Sarah Cadwallader, along with men's soccer players Mike Formento and Tom Pool and women's soccer player Alison Hindley.

Graduate students Pat Cormac, who was also on the Haiti trip, and John Powell will also be a part of the group this year. Cormac just finished his graduate degree after serving as the men's soccer graduate assistant last season, while Powell assists the men's basketball team as a manager.

The group departs Sunday morning and will begin its service activities Monday. Among the scheduled activities include a soccer and basketball clinic that will run each day in the morning, along with other service projects geared at specific age groups in the afternoons.

One of the highlights of this year's trip will be an increased involvement with the area's educational officials.

“We're very excited to be presenting to the district education office,” said Herlihy. “We have invited many public officials, principals and other educational professionals to attend the presentation.”

Shauna Walker will lead the presentation, which will talk about the NCAA's Student Athlete-Affairs program, and how themes from this program can be assimilated into the educational system in St. Lucia. The major themes of the program include providing support for students in the areas of academics, athletics, personal development, career development and service.

Along with the presentation to the district education office, local area coaches will be invited to partake in clinics throughout the week.

The group will return back to Slippery Rock Sunday, Aug. 8.

Herlihy plans to chronicle the trip with a series of blogs and photos that will appear online at www.RockAthletics.com.