Lawrence Tech focuses on helping others in revamped sports program

SOUTHFIELD — In one of the school’s biggest accomplishments since establishing an athletic program in 2012, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics named Lawrence Technological University the recipient of the Champions of Character Five-Star Institution Award.

The award is measured on conduct during competition, character training for coaches and athletes, and academic achievement. The institutions are then awarded points based on said criteria, including grade-point averages, zero ejections during competition and community-based activities.

The award has three tiers, from bronze to gold, with LTU being represented in the silver bracket.

LTU earned major points in the community-based activities area as it took part in the Big Rake in Southfield and continued its work with Habitat for Humanity and the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics Michigan.

The Big Rake focuses on assisting seniors and disabled residents of Southfield with lawn care maintenance, while Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County has worked with LTU on designing community-based homes supported by Habitat for Humanity.

“It’s what we stress here; it’s not about your sport, it’s about helping others and giving back to the community and doing things outside your sport and the classroom,” LTU’s Athletic Director Scott Trudeau said. “It’s always eye-opening to them, because some of them have never done stuff like this before.”

Trudeau, who has been at LTU for 20 years, became the athletic director in 2010 and played a vital part in establishing the robust athletics department LTU currently features.

Since its revitalization in 2012, LTU now features 34 sports teams, including an esports team, for both men and women student-athletes.

“We just wanted to change our campus community and make it more of a traditional college,” Trudeau said. “Before that, we were pretty much a commuter school, but now we have four housing buildings on-site, a thousand kids living on campus, tailgating, and we have every sport under the sun.”

LTU currently has over 600 students living on campus with 60% being student athletes. The school has since branded its school colors to coincide with the Blue Devils mascot.

It’s not the LTU people remember from 15 years ago.

“It’s a 180-degree difference,” Trudeau said. “You’d come here on the weekends, and there wouldn’t be any cars; it would be a ghost town. Now you come here on the weekends, and there’s lots of tailgaters and people having fun.”

One of the major success stories in LTU’s athletic program has been its women’s lacrosse team, coached by Mary Ann Meltzer.

Meltzer’s squad earned runner-up last year in the NAIA Championship and has carried a 115-56-2 record since being established in 2014.

While the team has been dominant, Meltzer said LTU has excelled in one area that has drawn in recruits.

“I think the school itself, academically, sells itself,” Meltzer said. “I think when you graduate from LTU, you’re going to have a job.”

The women’s lacrosse team has been a major factor in LTU’s community-driven agenda and plans to take part in Project Healthy Community this year.

“I think it’s really important that we give back to the community,” Meltzer said. “That seems to be one of our big initiatives heading into the season.”

Whether it’s academics, on-campus lifestyle or athletics, LTU has established itself as a university where students and student-athletes can make a name for themselves.

“We’re all Blue Devils, and we’re all on the same team; it carries a lot of pride,” Trudeau said. “We’re already known in the working world because we’ve produced a lot of great engineers, but now people know us as a very competitive school; the kids embrace it.”