VCU Center for Sport Leadership is not like other graduate programs. Some of the best people to explain that to our new students are some of our most accomplished alumni.
For Monday's New Student Orientation, Executive Director Carrie LeCrom, Ph.D. invited the following alumni to share their CSL experience and speak about of the the program's Core Values:
Adaeze Alaeze '19 is the Program Director, Student-Athlete Career Development for University of Maryland Athletics. Her Core Value topic was Authentic
Kara Bacile '17 is the Head Coach for The Steward School Girls Basketball, where she has won two state championships. Kara spoke about Empowering
Hunter Leemon '09 is the Chief Executive Officer of Sportable, one of the leading adaptive sport organizations in the country, based in Richmond. Hunter addressed the important of being Collaborative
Santiago Lucio '14 is the Vice President, Corporate Partnerships, North Carolina Courage of the NWSL and North Carolina FC of the United Soccer League. He is a native of Colombia and discussed the core value of Global-Mindedness.
Dwight Perry '13 is the Head Coach for Wofford Men’s Basketball. He is the first former VCU Men's Basketball graduate assistant to become a Division 1 Head Coach. He talked about the importance of being accountable
“Last year we decided to revamp Orientation. We gave a lot of thought to the message we wanted to get across to the new students on their first day,” said Carrie LeCrom, Executive Director. “There’s a ton of information to share about the CSL but we asked, ‘What’s most important?’ Our core values are the foundation of program. It made sense to start there. We thought we could amplify the message by bringing in five accomplished alumni who are living out those core values.”
Students filed into the Siegel Center and rotated among five stations, where each alum spoke on their assigned core value for about 20 minutes.
The five alumni shared personal stories from their time as a CSL graduate student and professional examples that highlighted their core value.
“The alumni participation exceeded our expectations,” said LeCrom. “They were amazing. It was clear their message resonated with the new students and had a powerful impact. This will definitely become an Orientation Day tradition.”
