The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) conducted their annual workshop on February 11-13, 2012 at the Sheraton Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia.
The workshop is designed to bring student-athletes from MEAC member institutions together as one body to enhance leadership skills, participate in team building exercises, discuss NCAA legislation, explore hot topics, and share campus SAAC initiatives.
MEAC SAAC President Paige Webb, a South Carolina State volleyball student-athlete, explained to the group that the goal of the workshop is for the student-athletes to become empowered with knowledge to build better relationships on campus with teammates, the general student body, athletic staff, and faculty.
The group discussed their campus SAAC initiatives that included topics such as Breast Cancer Awareness fundraisers, student-athlete banquets and raffles for tickets to the MEAC Basketball Tournament.
Jennifer Saxon, Assistant Academic Enhancement/Asst. Internal Operations at South Carolina State led a seminar on how to properly build a resume. While former MEAC SAAC members Joshua Jones and Laura Waters-Brown (Ohio University) provided a presentation on Higher Education that focused on careers in sports.
Leslie Barnes, Director of Student-Athlete Development for Duke University, led a group discussion focused on the DISC Assessment. DISC is an acronym for: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance. Within her discussion, the student-athletes learned about their personal profiles and how to work with similar and different behavioral personalities.
The workshop resumed on Monday, February 13, with a meeting with MEAC Commissioner Dr. Dennis Thomas.
The student-athletes spent the last day of the workshop participating in a community service project with Keep Norfolk Beautiful. Keep Norfolk Beautiful is a program of the Norfolk Environmental Commission (NEC), a non-profit organization and a branch of the City of Norfolk Department of Public Works whose mission is to lead citizens toward environmental stewardship. During the volunteer experience the MEAC SAAC members picked up trash and litter in a Norfolk, Virginia neighborhood and assisted in the preparation for an upcoming clean up event.
When asked about her experience, Krystina Muhammad, Delaware State University, Senior Track & Field student-athlete stated that "It was better than last year's because of the résumé and higher education workshops. I liked that this year was more educational".
Erskine Johnson, South Carolina State, Junior football student-athlete, reflected on the workshop and stated that "It was great. I met a lot of new people with different backgrounds and from different sports. I enjoyed the team building and socials the most".
MEAC Student-Athlete Advisory CommitteeThe purpose of the MEAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (MEAC SAAC) is to foster a unified forum, which provides equal and representative dialog from MEAC student-athletes relating to NCAA and Conference legislation as well as other issues that affect their welfare. Furthermore, this committee would strive to maintain a positive environment that cultivates a healthy relationship between the athletic administrators and the student-athletes. The Committee is dedicated to maintaining a positive commitment to support and value diversity and equity among student-athletes.
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