BLACKSBURG — Near the close of Women's History Month, the Office of Student-Athlete Development and the Virginia Tech Leadership Institute within the Virginia Tech Athletics Department launched a new initiative for female student-athletes at Tech.
Hokie Women RISE is a program aimed at building community and fostering personal growth for female student-athletes. The event on the evening of March 25 brought together nearly 70 current female student-athletes. Also included in the event were 15 female professionals invited to serve as "Table Hosts" for small group discussions and make connections with those student-athletes in attendance. Ten Table Hosts were former student-athletes, six representing the Hokies at one point. All had one thing in common, though – a passion for supporting Hokie female student-athletes.
The event kicked off with a short welcome and dinner before transitioning into a panel discussion moderated by Donna Wertalik, the director of marketing strategy and analytics in the Pamplin College of Business. Panel members included local business owner Ashleigh Garnes, Tech soccer great Jazmine Reeves, and Lisa Karlisch, the only Hokies volleyball player to have a jersey retired. Panel members shared their experiences and insight into how to be successful following graduation, finding confidence to lead, and the importance of connections.
The latter portion of the event was centered on personal growth through self-reflection activities and small group discussions. The first activity called "Find your Tribe" allowed student-athletes to reflect on the people who impact them the most. The second activity, called "Victory Lap", gave student-athletes the opportunity to think of a recent achievement in their lives, share it with their group, and celebrate their success whether big or small.
A recap video of the event and photos from the night are below. Hokie Women RISE hopes to build off of the initial event and continue to support female student-athletes at Virginia Tech with similar programs in the future.
Gallery: (4/17/2019) HOKIE WOMEN RISE 2019
