“Spring break.” For most college students, the phrase means bikinis and swim trunks, sandy beaches and poolside cocktails. But for second-year Ohio State goaltender Barbara Bilko, it is a volunteer opportunity.
The women’s ice hockey member has embraced a lifestyle of volunteering and community service in her first two years at OSU. Coach Jackie Barto said Bilko’s background and passion for giving back makes her a great representative of the women’s team.
“She organizes a lot of the community service [we do],” Barto said. “She’s the one
[on the team] that’s really a go-getter with that.”
But even before college, Bilko found a zeal for philanthropy in high school at Shattuck St. Mary’s, an Episcopal church-afÿ liated boarding school in Faribault, Minn.
“My senior year of high school I became a Christian. So I was involved with Fellowship of Christian Athletes [FCA],” Bilko said. The leader of FCA was from Columbus, so there
was a bridge to OSU right away, Bilko said.
Originally from Mountain Top, Pa., Bilko decided on OSU because she wanted to try something new. Having spent most of her life in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, Ohio became an option because it was “kind of right in the middle,” Bilko said.
Once at OSU, Bilko was welcomed by some of the older girls on the team who then introduced her to Athletes in Action.
According to their Web site, AIA is “a global Sports Ministry working with college and professional athletes to use the platform of sport to help people with questions of faith.”
For Bilko, it felt like the right ÿ t. “As soon as I got in the door I just loved it so
much,” she said.
Bilko said she became really involved at Ohio State because there were a lot more opportunities for her to pursue. AIA provided outreach programs like helping out at the Children’s hospital. In the past, Bilko even worked with a prison ministry.
Wanting to do more, Bilko got involved with the Student-Athlete Advisory Board. She joined SAAB’s community service committee and discovered a new part of herself. “We get to go to elementary schools to read [to kids],” Bilko said. “And I started to realize that I have a heart for kids.”
And then it clicked.
Bilko’s father, who helped introduce her to hockey, is an orthopedic surgeon who works with sports teams like the Patriots and Junior hockey teams.
After the first Haiti earthquake, her father talked about traveling to Haiti to help out with the relief effort through a group from USA Hockey Helping Haiti.
Bilko talked to her dad about the trip down south, suggesting she put her minor in French to use helping translate. “I was kind of half kidding, half serious when putting it out there with, ‘Can I come as a translator?'” Bilko said. “So they pitched the idea to the head of the team [going] down, and they said, ‘Yeah.'”
Come mid-March, Bilko will forgo the typical spring break party scene, and pursue a passion for helping others that has blossomed over the last few years.
Among all the excitement and anticipation, Bilko has remained grounded. Despite her hectic lifestyle, she stressed how important it is to do something for others.
“We’re very busy, but also very fortunate,” Bilko said. “We should just be so grateful and appreciative and give as much back as we can. I try to do that.”
