AthLife Foundation

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.

Do not let our name fool you! Yes, we are the Purple PACT, but we are also very green! Westhill High School’s greenhouse and garden epitomizes that concept. Because of the hard work from Viking student athletes, our garden was filled with various types of flowers, 14 different types of veggies, and countless herbs. It’s clear their strength is just as useful off of the field as it is on! They helped by taking on various jobs such as filling and dumping heavy wheelbarrows, shoveling, turning the ground, planting, watering, and harvesting.

Our philosophy is that health is attained through three areas: fitness, diet, and most importantly, the mind. When all three are working in unison, you are able to reach your highest potential. Because of this, we strive towards offering opportunities for our student athletes in each area. Fitness is attained during their sport, but the garden and the greenhouse allows us to go beyond. We have had guest speakers present on nutrition and on the concept of farm-to-table. During the presentation athletes observe and ask questions while a recipe is being made with the produce from the garden. At the end of the day, they are able to eat the final product. All recipes are simple with the goal of having the student athletes feel comfortable enough to recreate it at home.  

 Our student athletes are involved in a process bigger than themselves. All extra produce and recipes will be donated to local homeless shelters and soup kitchens. They will come to learn that life is full circle; that by nurturing and loving a seed it will then begin to provide back to them and their community. They will witness this first hand when the same plants they cared for will go towards helping to fill an empty stomach.

The AthLife Foundation is proud to introduce the first two middle school programs partnered with our industry leading national platform: Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School and Willie Brown Middle School of the San Francisco Unified School District. Both schools exhibit outstanding support for their student athletes through the creation of critical Academic Athletic Support Staff positions.  These caring adult mentors develop high impact programming that use the often untapped educational platform of sport to affect change.

It is exciting to expand our efforts to these two middle schools, as both are feeder schools to Phillip A. and Sala Burton High School’s PUMA Academy, currently in it’s third year of partnership with the AthLife Foundation.

This was made possible because of the tremendous vision of the YMCA Bayview Beacon Program and the AthLife Foundation’s Bay Area Board Members. Peter Wagner, an Academic Support Specialist, and Prasant Nukalapati, the Beacon Center Director, have been major catalysts to getting the programs up and running.

Official name: Student-Athlete Academy (S-AA)

Key Components: The Bayview Beacon’s Student-Athlete Academy is an after school program that is open to student athletes who are driven to succeed in the classroom. This year-round program supports each student by providing them with academic support, leadership skills, and motivation to build the community that surrounds them. The program offers an environment conducive for individuals to complete classwork but also provide additional help, such as tutors. Academy participants are also giving studying techniques that enable them to recognize their full potential as student athletes.

What helps make it successful?: One aspect of S-AA that differentiates it from other programs is the fact that students are able to maintain strong relationships with their athletic coaches. When the athletic coaches expect students to actively engage in the program with the help of specialized Academic Athletic Support Staff, they are able to gain access to the tools they need to succeed beyond the playing field. As a result, the achievements and sacrifices made off the field will enable them to be mentally stronger during the game as well.

Looking towards the future: One of the program’s long term goals is to have a student athlete academy in every middle and high school in the Bayview Area. The benefits of S-AA are numerous, especially during a time when students are developing study habits and understanding their ability to critically think. As a result of the program, there has been an increase in the amount of tutoring for student athletes as well as more resources for coaches to incentivize sports engagement through academic achievement. Thus, this program creates an environment where students can cultivate responsibility on and off the field and demonstrate what it means to be a student athlete. Because the AthLife Foundation is able to help fund schools, more staff can be hired to foster this academic growth. With more access to computers for MOOC engagement, electronic homework completion, and grade observation, students are more responsible for making the most out of their education. Because middle school is a crucial stage in a student’s life, academic and leadership skills are instrumental to the development of the student on and off the field.

For More Information about S-AA from the program creators click here.