There are many benefits to being a student-athlete, but it also comes with a lot of responsibilities.
As a junior in college, the beginning of a new freshman class inspires me to take advantage of my educational opportunities and improve my leadership skills in anticipation of the upcoming academic year.
I want to help create an environment in which people are comfortable and confident in being themselves.
That's one of the reasons I attended the Athlete Ally Leadership Summit a few weeks ago. It was a three-day event that brought together athletes who wanted to connect, share information about diversity and inclusion, and commit to changing colleges and sports for the better.
I've always been motivated to take action, but I'm not in a position to make substantial decisions, and this was the first opportunity I had to explore it.
The goal of my visit was to gain insight into diversion and inclusion strategies and to find ways to make people feel more at ease in unfamiliar settings.
The event was mostly about how to make people feel comfortable and safe when they are part of a different community, with ethical and practical strategies.
The summit, which took place in Miami, Florida, was attended by ~150 DI student-athletes. It was a blessing to be one of them, along with three other Huskers.
The first day was a meet and greet. We had dinner, spoke to other student-athletes, and had great conversations.
What really drew me to the summit was the second day. In particular, I remember the one-on-one meeting room as being quite impressive.
I was paired up with a girl from a different school. The most touching part of the summit for me was listening to her story.
Why?
Because you meet a lot of people in public places every day, but you never really know what they're going through or what their story is.
Hearing a different perspective was illuminating.
I knew that the person was taking a risk by telling me something, so making sure she felt safe enough to talk about her problems was very important.
The third day was pretty laid back overall. After our two yoga sessions, we joined everyone for dinner as a group. As the day drew to a close, we discussed the strategies we would employ upon returning to our schools.
With a representative from the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) there, the summit was able to bring together a lot of people who were interested in implementing real changes. The SAAC representative is eager to make changes, and they have a lot of input into major decisions, which is good news.
Even though it might take some time to put these changes into effect, we are unquestionably heading in the right direction. This is a process, after all, just like everything else.