Month: March 2017

Former Penn State and NFL tight end, Brett Brackett, visited William Allen High School Wednesday afternoon and delivered a valuable message to 25 student athlete football players about utilizing LinkedIn as a powerful resource to prepare for college and future careers.

Brett was a standout football player at Penn State, where he was the captain his senior year. He signed with the Miami Dolphins in 2011 and played in the NFL until 2014. Since then, Brett has been teaming up with the career development arm of AthLife to help develop his own path.

The group learned the basics of LinkedIn by identifying transferable skills from athletics and networking etiquette. Currently, student athletes are building their own LinkedIn profile in preparation for the next step beyond high school. Allen High School Sophomore Heiro Valdez-Rosario really enjoyed the experience, “Meeting a former NFL player like Brett, and learning about how to prepare for life after football proves that great achievements are always possible through hard work.”

Reflecting on the experience Brackett stated, “Today I had the privilege of getting to know a great group of student athletes at William Allen High School. Some day, all athletes stop playing organized sports, but the tools they build while playing can provide them with the intangibles needed to excel in the future.”

The opportunity was created through the AthLife Foundation and William Allen High School ‘s student athlete development program, S.O.A.R., which is now in it’s seventh year of operation. According to Academic Athletic Coach Melissa Roehrich “One of our goals is to prepare students to be lifelong learners who are active in their communities. Teaching them to use online resources in a professional manner helps to develop those skills.”

Junior, Jahnai Harry summed up, “Through what we learned today, Brett helped a new generation of Allen Football aspire to do great things!”

On Wednesday February 15^th, the AthLife Foundation hosted freshmen student athletes from Dieruff High School at Lafayette College. Twelve students were given the opportunity to tour the college, to have dinner on campus, and to attend a Division 1 men’s basketball game. This valuable exposure was aimed at helping student athletes understand and recognize their responsibilities when striving to obtain the ultimate goal of attending college.

At the beginning of the visit, the AthLife Foundation Interns gave the students a tour of the college, which took them to various academic buildings, dining halls, and residence halls. This allowed the students to grasp a better understanding of the college atmosphere. During the tour, the students were made aware of the adjustments needed to be made in order to be successful in college.

After their tour and their dinner in the campus cafeteria, the students attended a panel discussion that consisted of Lafayette Student Athletes from the volleyball, football and tennis teams. This discussion enabled the kids to hear from current college athletes about their experiences and more importantly on what it takes to thrive in both academics and athletics at the collegiate level. One of the topics discussed was the importance of being goal oriented.

Robin Cepeda, a senior football player at Lafayette, explained that a huge part of achieving a goal is falling in love with “the process on the way and dedicating the time to reach it”. He stressed, “Making a habit of the little things is extremely important in order to gain positive results.” Robin made it clear to the high school students that even when times are rough, there is always a chance to achieve a goal.

Draeland James, another football player at Lafayette, continued to discuss his process of training to reach the college level. He made the point to the students, “Never “stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done because there are no shortcuts to success.”  He continued, “hard work does not go unnoticed and will pay off in the future, even if it does not seem that way in the moment.”

After the panel discussion, the students attended a Lafayette Men’s basketball game to see firsthand what it is like to perform as a Division 1 athlete. This entire experience enabled the students the ability to visualize what it would be like to attend a small liberal arts college like Lafayette. The AthLife Foundation hopes that this experience will inspire the Dieruff students to become actively engaged in planning for their futures  and to stay motivated in achieving their goals.

On February 13th, Heisman Academic Impact Schools led the AthLife Foundation Mid Year Training, which 25 participants from eight AthLife Foundation Schools attended, along with several partner organizations. The training, which occurred at LinkedIn Headquarters in the Empire State Building, helped strengthen network connections and establish innovative ideas for the future.

The training consisted of presentations from Move This World, UP2US, LinkedIn, and AthLife Foundation Staff. The first workshop was presented by Caitlin Daly from Move This World, and the discussion dealt with tapping into each individual’s creative potential in order to help individuals understand, engage, express, and manage their emotions. Ben Schornack from UP2US led the second presentation, which discussed the importance of incorporating service learning into academic programs.

The third session was led by Kyle Dunnington from LinkedIn. His presentation focused on the relevance of LinkedIn to the high school population and how to best help kids take advantage of LinkedIn’s resources as a high school student and into their college and early career years.

The last strategy session, led by Joseph Baratta of Curtis High School, provided an opportunity for an interactive dialogue in which academic athletic coaches were able to provide snapshots of their incredible programs. These talented educators shared not only best practices but communal challenges that they are determined to overcome as well.