The beginning of the 2011-2012 school year marked the third year of the Lancer Leadership Program, a program geared towards student athletes that, according to a Sept. 21, 2011 press release from the Athletics Department, "selects student-athletes on the basis of academic and athletic successes, leadership skills and potential, and the personal recommendations of their respective head coaches and academic advisors." This year, 33 student-athletes were chosen to participate. The Lancer Leadership Program seeks to teach student-athletes to "understand citizen leadership, embody it, and go out to make a visible impact on their respective teams and around campus."
This year will be an important year for the program. Its facilitation has been turned over to lead facilitator and academic services graduate assistant Brynton Lett, and Academic Services Advisor Maya Ozery. Lett and Ozery seek to improve the program, which was conceived two years ago by Director of Athletics Troy Austin. On first creating the program, Austin stated, "Starting in high school and college, I've been fortunate enough to be asked to serve in leadership positions, either as a mentor or team captain, and in a lot of those situations I was able to get some sort of training. In examining our situation at LU, we didn't really have that set up. [I also received] feedback from the coaches, hoping to get some additional leadership training for some of their student athletes. This year, I felt I couldn't dedicate as much energy and time to it, so we redistributed responsibility so that it could really be a great program throughout the year."
The program consists of at least six workshops throughout the year, which will be comprised of both workshops and guest speakers. As in past years, Austin stated, "We're going to continue with that theme of meeting once a month as an open forum for student-athletes to talk about their experiences and get feedback on different facets of leadership…this year, [the program] is [already] more organized and structured, it's already off to a better start this year than it's ever been."
As in previous years, this year's Lancer Leadership Program seeks to cover several basic leadership skills, but Lett stated he is also looking to revamp the program by taking the "theoretical framework of these skills and enhancing the qualities [of the program] that are already there." Skills being covered this year include: citizen leadership, diversity and leading diverse teams, team building, verbal and nonverbal skills, and self-discipline; skills that Lett believes student-athletes can use both on and off the field. Lett also hopes to incorporate community service projects into the program.
Lett stated that one of the new goals of the revamped program is to make it more practical for student-athletes. Through partnering with other departments, such as the Academic and Career Advising Center, Offices of Leadership and Civil Engagement, and Diversity and Inclusion, the Lancer Leadership Program will open different avenues for student-athletes to get involved with as well as different resources available to them on campus.
In regards to future expansion and improvement, Lett stated, "Right now, the program is catered to emerging leaders [sophomores and juniors]. Ideally, I would like to see the program becoming a little more comprehensive, taking freshmen as soon as they get here and working on building leadership skills. [Also,] a sophomore and junior program and finally a senior program. I want those who have matriculated through the program in all three years, to come back and be responsible for teaching the sessions and coordinating volunteer initiatives. I want them to take a more hands on approach in coordinating."
"I want [the program] to keep growing," stated Austin. "And since it's new, [I want it to] be a program that student athletes are excited to be a part of and feel a prestige about being a part of it. In programs that I've been involved in, and in this program, the goal is to give them some cues and ideas and points to their journey with leadership, not to finalize it."