Third-year swimmer Rylee Kelly learned that she had been selected by the Greater Providence YMCA as one of six 2025 Y Heroes after giving a tour of women’s athletics to a group from the YMCA in January.

“It was super unexpected,” Kelly said. “Right after that, the CEO of the YMCA in Providence called me and told me they wanted to give me the award for my outreach efforts.”

Kelly’s internship with People’s Credit Union led her to connect with the South County Y. She has served as a liaison between women’s athletics and the Y since the start of the academic year, connecting the youth with student-athletes who serve as mentors and role models.

“I’m a big believer that we could always be doing more to give back to the community that gives back so much to athletics,” Kelly said. “That was definitely some motivation, but the People’s Credit Union helped me facilitate that.”

The South County Y director had asked about setting up the tour of the athletic facilities; Kelly was able to create the opportunity for the after-school childcare program with the help of many.

“[URI Director of Athletics] Thorr [Bjorn] was more than happy to help out,” Kelly said. “He spoke to the kids, and all the women’s coaches sent athletes, which was awesome. They were super supportive of it. I’m lucky enough to have the female team head coaches be so involved and willing to help out.”

Since the program began in 2018, there have been both swimmers and URI alumni honored as Y Heroes. In the inaugural class, North Kingstown native and Olympic medalist Elizabeth Beisel was one of three recipients. Laurie White ’81 received the recognition in 2021 as the president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.

“Giving back to the community is what is going to continue to bring girls to sports and encourage them to be leaders in whatever sport they end up wanting to do,” Rhode Island Swimming and Diving Head Coach Lilli Falconer Deering said.

Last year, URI Greek Life was recognized as a 2024 Y Heroes recipient for its support and philanthropic efforts. Kelly is the first active student-athlete and the only individual college student to receive the honor.

“I really appreciate that within our athletic department, we’re creating more opportunities for student-athletes to be involved in the community and to find joy and passion in that,” Deering said. “Rylee has always been very motivated and a leader in that respect.”

As part of Kelly’s time with the Y, her swim and dive team, alongside URI women’s lacrosse and softball, took a trip to Peace Dale Elementary School in South Kingstown and played kickball with students in December 2024. Kelly learned that a kid went out of their comfort zone to join the game thanks to encouragement from URI athletes.

“It’s the things like that, that we don’t necessarily realize are big things,” Kelly said. “We’re just happy to be there and hanging out, but it makes such a big difference to them.”

Kelly most recently competed at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship from Feb. 19-22, competing in five events. Her best result came in the 200-meter freestyle, finishing in seventh place.

“She’s always interacting with the girls or the kids that are involved,” Deering said. “She’s an incredible athlete in the pool… maybe that will encourage more kids to get into swimming and to learn to swim.”

Deering has seen a welcome increase in community outreach efforts from her time as an athlete to her time now as a coach, with one of her athletes helping to lead the charge.

“Within the athletic department and on our team, our hope and our goal is to continue to be present in the community,” Deering said. “She leads by example in that, and that’s just really awesome.”

Despite the stresses that are attached to being a collegiate athlete, Kelly considers herself lucky to have the time to give back to her community.

“We’re all so lucky to be Division I athletes; not everyone gets that opportunity,” Kelly said. “It’s good for us to go in there as athletes… we definitely emphasize the ‘student’ in ‘student-athlete.’ As Division I athletes, I think that carries a lot of weight for these kids.”

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