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SALT LAKE CITY — Win or lose, Spencer and Abby Cox knew they wanted to make the state of Utah a better place.
They looked around the state, and even the country, and saw hundreds of politicians running campaigns. They realized they needed to look inside and ask themselves if the world was a better place because they ran for the highest political office in the state of Utah.
While on the campaign trail, the couple got involved in several service projects, which led to the creation of the "Show Up" initiative — the goal to improve Utah through service.
As one of the four key points of the initiative, first lady Abby Cox, in partnership with the Utah Jazz, challenged high school sports teams around the state to give back to their communities through acts of service throughout the month of October.
"We want to encourage our young people to put away their social media," Abby Cox told KSL.com. "Not look at people's perfect lives on Instagram but actually get out, connect with each other, have meaningful conversations, and do meaningful service in the communities."
The challenge from Cox and Ashley Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz, and a member of Abby Cox's executive board had three main points: service, share and swag.
Service
High school student-athletes around the state were invited to get together with their teammates, friends or whomever they wanted to find a way to give back to their communities in a positive way.
The service projects could range from anything such as washing a local business' windows to raising money for charity. The main purpose was to help unify Utah's youth and give them an opportunity to get involved in any way they could.
"What we're seeing is a lot of mental health challenges in our youth and adults," Cox said. "And there's a lot of research right now around what a huge tool in the mental health toolbox that service is."
Bingham High had multiple athletic teams take part in the "Show Up for Sports" challenge by giving back to their community. The soccer teams got involved in a soccer camp clinic for kids with special needs, while the football team took a Saturday morning and broke up into groups to give back to their local sponsors.
One of the biggest service projects from the school came from the drill team, who carried out what they called the "Astra Walk." The event name comes from a former Bingham "Minerette," Astra Waller, who died years ago from cystic fibrosis. Every year since her passing, the drill team has put together the walk-a-thon to raise money for cystic fibrosis research, of which there is no cure at this time.
The Minerettes usually put the event on for the local community, but this year they invited drill teams and families from all the schools in their region to participate. In addition to the high schools, the BYU dance team, the Cougarettes, showed up at the event because their coach used to be Astra's coach at Bingham.
"It was special just to see a bunch of drill teams that are competitive against each other all come together for a really good cause," Minerette head coach Erika Cox said. "So that kinda made this year's (event) a little bit more special."
The walk itself was relatively simple: it's four laps around the track, but on the fourth lap all the dancers held hands and had Astra's family walk in front of them. At the end of the last lap, everyone raised their hands together as they finished under a big balloon arch while spectators clapped and cheered.
Erika Cox said it was an opportunity for high school aged students to do something different that's focused on external meanings.
"I feel like it's just an event for them to be outside of themselves for a little bit," she said. "It's awesome for the community to be able to come together, but also for these girls that are in high school to just do an event that's completely focused on something outside of them — bigger picture.
"They donate all of it (the money) to cystic fibrosis, so everything that they raise for the event and during the event goes to cystic fibrosis. I think it's just awesome for them to be able to experience that."
Share
The second major part of the campaign was for the athletic teams to share what they were doing, particularly on social media using the hashtags #ShowUpForService and #ShowUpSportsChallenge. Whether on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or other social media platforms, the teams were asked to encourage others to get involved and serve, as well.
The sharing on social media, in particular when the hashtags were used, allowed all those who participated to be grouped together to see all the good happening around the state throughout the month of October.
"Social media can have a lot of drawbacks, especially on our mental health for these kids, but if we're going to use it, we should use it in positive ways that really encourage people to be a part of something," Abby Cox said. "I think kids always — not just kids, humans — need a sense of love and belonging, and that sense of belonging is so powerful.
"They are always wanting to be a part of something really positive and powerful, and this is the way to do it."
Swag
Ashley Smith and the Jazz agreed to honor and provide a dinner to 100 students that did service during the challenge at a home game on Dec. 13. The students and their teams will be picked using a lottery method. And while not every high school team will get to the game, the Jazz will be sending out swag — shirts, merchandise and other items — to all the participants of the campaign.
"The idea for us was to activate new generations of teaching them how to think externally and teaching them how to serve others and what it does for our community," Smith said. "When we're helping each other and helping the community from the bottom up, when we're starting with the youth, it's setting hopefully a platform for service and that's the goal."
Though the main goal was to have the service projects done during the month of October, some took place in September, and others will be accepted for the potential swag opportunity up until Nov. 15. But the hope is the acts of service will inspire the athletes and others around the state to do more for others, in whatever way they can.
"These (student-athletes) are, for better or worse, and we hope for better that these are leaders in the school that other kids admire and look up to and follow," Abby Cox said. "And so they're showing that they can do these amazing things.
"What we think we can do with this month is really highlight the fact that these student leaders, student-athletes, can set the example for what our state can be."
