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women, leadership and sport summer symposium 2018

Women, Leadership And Sport Symposium First Event Of CU's New Women With Altitude

July 30, 2018 | Cross Country, General, Track and Field, Buff Club, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Scripps Leadership & Career Development

Wednesday's event helped CU's female student-athletes in their professional development

BOULDER – The University of Colorado's athletic department held its Women, Leadership and Sport Summer Symposium on Wednesday afternoon at Hotel Boulderado. The event for CU's female student-athletes was to provide an opportunity for personal and professional development.
 
The main goal of Wednesday's event, in which about 60 student-athletes were on-campus and able to attend, was developing a personal network. Many student-athletes know how to communicate with their teammates, coaches and classmates, but may struggle when they get out of an athletics setting. That's where Wednesday's event comes into play, trying to bridge that gap between athletics and "the real world."
 
"I think it benefited me in a lot of different ways because it covered a wide variety of things," Sage Hurta, a junior on CU's cross country and track teams, said of Wednesday's event. "The main, featured presentation was about personal branding and social media, which is something I have always been curious about...It was also really helpful to hear from some of the professionals in the community as far as what they wish they had known going into [their careers], what mistakes they have made, and that it is not going to be perfect right off the bat. It might take a few tries to find where you want to be. If you keep going after it, it will work out."
 
The event was organized by Dave Callan, CU's Director of Student-Athlete Leadership. He brought in female speakers from the community from many different backgrounds, some former athletes, some from a corporate setting, and some from an athletics-focused career.
 
"I think the purpose of a lot of these events is how they can leverage their experiences at Colorado as a student-athlete specifically to life after CU," Callan said. "What makes them unique, compared to the other 29,000 students here that they can leverage and be successful in whatever they choose to do next? [The focus was] primarily work-related, whether it's work as a pro athlete or work in a job or going to graduate school. [Wednesday] was trying to get them to hear from some women in the community on figuring out what they can do now so that they're prepared when they leave us."
 
The keynote speaker was Kami (Carmann) Snyder and she and addressed the group for nearly a half hour. She is a former women's basketball player at CU and has worked in television as a sports news anchor since graduating in 2001 with a double major in journalism and psychology.
 
"Her message was that as women, we need to be empowering," Hurta said. "We need to empower each other. One woman's success does not detract from another person's potential. Your failure isn't a reflection of another woman. I think that is something we need to keep in mind, especially being a part of competitive sports teams where you might be going for the same spot. We are all in it together. In the workplace, those are going to be your co-workers and your friends. It is good to cultivate a positive environment. If you are unnecessarily competitive or hostile towards other women, it hurts everyone."
 
Maggie Still, who is the social media coordinator for CU football and has worked in college athletics since her graduation in 2013 from CU's College of Media, Communication and Information, advised the group on personal branding and online communication. Still's presentation was one of the most impactful for the student-athletes.
 
"It is interesting to hear about what kind of thoughts you should be putting into the image that you put out into the world and what kind of benefits that can have, whether it is to play professionally in sports or what you are exhibiting to your future employers—what you are all about," Hurta said."
 
Other speakers included Monica Armstrong (from CU academics, former college basketball coach); Ashley Chrisman (physician's assistant in CU Sports Medicine, former national champion track and field athlete at Nebraska); Becky Gamble (commercial real estate at Dean Callan & Company, former All-America tennis player at both CU and Texas); Kayla McGannon (has worked as a lobbyist for education, with non-profits, and on political campaigns with Nexus Policy Group, CU graduate); and Alexis Williams (CU Assistant Athletic Director for Ticket Operations, Sales and Service, LSU graduate). Kris Livingston, CU's Associate Athletic Director for Student Services and a former college basketball player, was the facilitator of the event.
 
Hurta is planning to become an orthopedic doctor after her running career is over. She currently carries a 3.96 GPA and is majoring in chemical and biological engineering with a minor in statistics. On the track, she has already won a national championship in the distance medley relay as a freshman and was the Pac-12 champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase this past spring as a sophomore. Hurta said she really connected with the presentation as a whole, but particularly with Chrisman. So far the two have the same career path—both national champions in track, and both going into the medical field. Chrisman is someone she hopes to keep in her personal network.
 
"I thought it was helpful because Ashley was there," Hurta said. "I got to talk to her a little bit. She was also a track athlete so I got to bond with her over that. I felt like it was really helpful because it is nice to have someone where you feel like you have your foot in the door. Now I can maybe set up a shadowing opportunity or talk a little more about what being in the medical field would entail. It was helpful to have those people there to talk to."
 
The Women, Leadership and Sport Summer Symposium was also the first event with a new CU initiative, Women with Altitude. The initiative's mission statement is "to empower our female student-athletes to continually elevate their athletic and academic excellence through philanthropic support, leadership development, and community engagement."
 
Women with Altitude is driven by three main components: 1. Empowerment of CU's female student-athletes through programming and resources; 2. Community outreach through events involving female student-athletes; and 3. Philanthropic support through efforts with Buff Club to provide scholarships and funding for CU's women's sports programs.
 
To support Women with Altitude, contact CU Buff Club here.