Student-athletes at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley have been spending a lot of time giving back over the past few months.

UTRGV student-athletes completed almost 14,000 community service hours this fall. Now, the program is in the running to be named top five in a community service challenge among NCAA Division 1 schools.

UTRGV Student Athlete Services Coordinator Julia Perez says it’s putting their athletics program on the map.

"Prospective student athletes that come, they've heard about the community engagement initiatives that we do, it's a big part of who we are and our student athletes take pride in that,” Perez said.

Perez says the more community service activities their athletes do, the more they request because they love seeing what it does for the community.