Otero Softball Team Helps Clean Hwy 50

Description: (Courtesy Photo)


Published: 10/10/2021
Byline: Hart

Otero College Softball team members spent three hours on Sat. Sept. 25 helping pick up trash on Highway 50. Top row (l-r): Kara Friesen, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and Lyla Michels, Aurora; Middle row: Aaliyah DeJesus, Albuquerque, NM; Front (l-r): Kaylynn Du Preez, Centurion, South Africa.

Otero Softball Team Helps Clean Highway 50

Otero College’s Softball Team used their Saturday morning to clean up a section of Highway 50 in and outside of La Junta. A group of 21 athletes walked approximately five miles of highway collecting trash and bagging it. Otero coordinated with Clean Valley Recycling for this project.

According to Olivia Woytiuk, a freshman at Otero, “The softball team really appreciates the community’s support, and this is one way that we can support the community.”

Mayra Robles and Lyla Michels were also interviewed, and they expressed gratefulness to the community as well. They shared that it was important to them to be able to give back. Woytiuk is from Shell Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada, while Robles is from Bastrop, Texas and Michels is from Aurora. They are all freshmen this year playing for Softball Head Coach, Nathan Howell.

In addition to playing softball for Otero, Michels is planning to get an associate of arts degree and then move on to get a bachelors in sports psychology. She would one day like to work for the National Football League (NFL). As far as baseball goes, she is a fan of the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, but her biggest interest is football, and she pulls for the Denver Broncos.

Robles, a fan of the Houston Astros, has plans to obtain a bachelor’s in legal studies and wants to eventually be an immigration lawyer. She is also the newly appointed State Student Advisory Council liaison for Otero College and is involved with the Associated Student Government.

Woytiuk owns a Purebred Simmental farm in her hometown of Shell Lake. She is going to school at Otero to get a degree in agriculture business and then plans to return to Canada to run her farm. She has really enjoyed working with her instructor, Brooke Matthew, for her agriculture courses and she is a Toronto Blue Jays fan.

The Otero College Softball Team begins their season in Jan. of 2022. Look for schedules on the Otero website or their social media pages. For questions about Otero Softball, contact Nathan Howell at Nathan.Howell@otero.edu or at 719-384-6928.



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