Hokie ClubIn March 2020, as the country was beginning to comprehend the effects of the developing coronavirus, the Virginia Tech Athletics Leadership Institute was determined to continue the important work of developing Hokie student-athletes into strong leaders. Gone were the days of traditional in-person events for student-athletes to enjoy fellowship, leadership discussions, and interactive activities. However, the Leadership Institute staff intentionally pivoted to provide leadership development for Hokies with an interactive, engaging, virtual format.
"One of the things we pride ourselves on with our leadership programs is the deep discussions and connections that student-athletes have when they attend our events." Shelby Miller, senior director of student-athlete leadership development, felt it was important to continue with leadership programs despite the challenges COVID-19 placed on student-athletes. "We know they had a lot on their plate with virtual classes, changes in sport operations, and travel and social restrictions, but our programs can help them through those challenges and, ultimately, help their teams as well. So, we felt it was very important for us to continue offering our programs this year."
The Leadership Institute provides three main on-campus leadership programs to varsity student-athletes, all of which were offered in the fall 2020 semester in a virtual format.
Starting in September, the first Leadership Institute program was Next Level Leadership. This is a three-year progressive leadership academy for select student-athletes with high interest and potential in leadership, in order to elevate them to the "next level." Applications are reviewed over the summer and the 2020-2021 cohort had the largest participation ever with 88 student-athletes representing all 22 varsity sports, as well as the spirit squad.
The program consists of three levels for student-athletes to progress through during their time at Virginia Tech, each level building off the previous: lead yourself, lead your team, leave your legacy. Each month, student-athletes use the Virginia Tech Athletics Department core values as a tool to learn leadership skills and concepts. The fall Next Level Leadership sessions focused on integrity, honor, and service. The spring semester will include excellence and strong together. Below are videos recapping each session.
In October, Hokie Women RISE hosted a Zoom event focused on body positivity. RISE is a leadership program tailored specifically to female student-athletes and provides the opportunity to build community and foster personal growth through engaging events and guest speakers. Nearly 50 women attended the event in October, which led student-athletes through body positive discussions and activities. To read a full recap and watch a highlight video click HERE.
The final event of the fall semester, held in early December, was Leadership Culture, a speaker series that represents the belief that team culture can be influenced by team leaders and is designed to expose student-athletes to important foundational concepts on leadership.
Nearly 60 Hokie student-athletes attended the virtual event hosted on Zoom, featuring guest speaker Mark Trumbo. Mark has impacted thousands of student-athletes, coaches, and administrators across the country. His interactive and impactful workshop, titled Purpose Design, focuses on helping others discover, define, and live their life's purpose. Mark has presented to other big names such as Michigan State, Clemson, South Carolina, the ACC, the NCAA, and more. You can learn more about Mark and his Purpose Design workshop HERE.
"I believe Mark's presentation hit home with most everyone who attended the event," said Virginia Tech Athletics sport psychologist Dr. Gary Bennett. "His focus on helping participants identify the things that matter most to them, while also connecting with their own skills and talents, clearly resonated with our student-athletes. I especially appreciated the end result of that process—having our students create a visual representation of their purpose."
The culmination of Mark's presentation is for student-athletes to discover their purpose in life, clearly define it for themselves, and finally, create a design – digitally or by hand – to reflect their purpose. Many student-athletes who attended have shared their designs on the Virginia Tech Student-Athlete Development social media pages. Please see the below Twitter Moment to scroll through their designs.
Leadership Culture | Mark Trumbo
The Leadership Institute has no plans of slowing down as the spring 2021 semester approaches. Director of the Leadership Institute, Danny White, has full confidence that leadership programs will continue to make a strong impact on student-athletes this upcoming semester. "Part of leadership is adapting and adjusting along the way…life seems to offer daily lessons on that topic recently. We appreciate the engagement of our student-athletes, support from coaches and staff, and interest and generosity of our donors. Through this network of support, the Leadership Institute fully plans to provide meaningful opportunities to help our student-athletes grow as leaders."
You can learn more about the Virginia Tech Athletics Leadership Institute by clicking HERE.