Over the years, collegiate institutions have found creative ways to motivate and celebrate students, panelists agreed.
Some institutions engage in athlete-of-the-week campaigns, where athletes who performed well in a particular endeavor are featured on the school’s Web site or in institution-wide email blasts. Other institutions feature the community service efforts or academic achievements of student athletes on the jumbotron or scoreboard during the games or in local newspaper advertisements.
Scott Krapf, a cross-country runner at Illinois State University, spoke approvingly about the “Walk of Champions” annual event at his school.
“Each August all of the student-athletes take a torch-guided tour of the campus and its historic landmarks,” Krapf said. “The event was started to learn about both the athletic and academic heritage of Illinois State University.”
To administrators looking for ways to celebrate their student-athletes, Krapf recommended they cultivate memorable events.
“At the beginning of the year, each freshman student-athlete is presented with a half token,” Krapft said in reference to his school. “Your senior year, the other half of the token is reunited with the one you received as a freshman.”
The panel also recommended that institutions celebrate the achievements that student-athletes produce inside of the classroom and in their communities.
“We know that these students are more than just bodies in motion,” said Ahlgren-Bedics.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
