SUWANEE, Ga. – The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference will be represented by 18 student-athletes, 5 from Southwestern, at the 2012 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind. The convention will run from Jan. 11-14 and will be held at the JW Marriott Indianapolis.
Student-athletes from nine of the SCAC’s 12 member
institutions are scheduled to attend, including: Emily Brzuzy,
Erika Higgenbotham and De’Andre Holmes of Austin College;
Tiarra Goode of Birmingham-Southern College; Kelsey Morell and
Maggie Harkins of Colorado College; Heather Capozzella and Jarred
Priester of the University of Dallas; Brittiny Casteen of Hendrix
College; Raven Scott of Millsaps College; Lexi Vassell and Arness
Holsey of Oglethorpe University; Taylor Wright, Shae
Seagraves, Abigail O’Connor, Daniel Ayala and Stephen Montes
of Southwestern University; and Sal Perdomo of Trinity
University.
Made possible through the NCAA Division III Strategic Initiative
Grant, the 18 student-athletes will participate in activities
ranging from education sessions to business sessions to the NCAA
Honors Celebration.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for our
student-athletes,” said SCAC Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry.
“I am hopeful that all of those who attend will take full
advantage of not only the educational sessions but also the
opportunity to network with other students, athletics
administrators and professionals.”
"I am looking forward to being able to attend the Convention in January," states senior Shae Seagraves. "It's an opportunity that many student-athlete's do not get to have. Since I hope to have a career in college athletics it is going to be a good opportunity to see and learn about issues on a larger level. Also, it's very exciting for Southwestern to have the number of representatives attending from different athletic backgrounds."
Hanberry said the grant from the NCAA provides the conference an
annual vehicle to focus on different areas of social responsibility
and integration. For the 2011-12 academic year, the focus is
Diversity and Gender Equity.
“One way that the conference office can help enhance or grow
a more diverse populace of future administrators is to engage
students while they are still on our campuses and provide these
students an opportunity to experience the various professional
development seminars and the social activities available as part of
the NCAA Convention,” said Hanberry. “Hopefully, some
of these young men and women will become interested in pursuing an
athletics administrative position upon graduation and see this as a
viable career path – be it at a SCAC institution or at
another institution of higher learning.”