Temple Athletics Launches FLIGHT Leadership Academy

PHILADELPHIA - The start of the fall semester will be groundbreaking at Temple University as it marks the debut of the athletics department FLIGHT Leadership Academy.

Fourteen student-athletes, representing 11 varsity athletics teams, will comprise the inaugural class of the Academy, which identifies emerging student-athletes to educate and prepare with the skill sets to be strong, effective leaders in their sport, community, and careers. The goal of the FLIGHT Leadership Academy is to help student-athletes develop leadership skills early in their collegiate careers and provide them with the platform to practice and refine those skills on their respective teams.

"The Leadership Academy is the natural next step in the goal of developing our student-athletes for success," said Director of Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft. "I want to commend Justin Miller and his staff for their hard work on making this dream become a reality."

FLIGHT uses a combination of interactive workshops and an academic experience to facilitate a program that is both educational, engaging, and impactful. Through a collaboration with Temple alumni Tom Schoenfelder, Principal Scientist & Head of Academic Research and Partnerships at Caliper, and industry thought leader and Silicon Valley consultant, Michael Gaines, Temple has developed a customized curriculum for personal development workshops. In these sessions, students have the opportunity to use their personality assessment reports when actively practicing skills that will contribute to their leadership development.

Additionally, FLIGHT students will enroll in two academic courses offered by the School of Sport, Tourism & Hospitality that have been identified to lay a theoretical framework to leadership – Sport Leadership and Sport for Development. Students will explore modern leadership theory and practice in the fall semester and transition into the study of how sport can be a catalyst for social change – seeing beyond competition and diving into the impact sport can have on society.

"The FLIGHT Leadership Academy is something we have been working hard to get off the ground, and now finally it has officially launched," said Miller, Temple's Senior Associate Athletics Director for Academics and Career Services. "It would not have happened without the vision of Dr. Kraft, the support of Tom Schoenfelder and Michael Gaines, and the hard work behind the scenes by Alyssa Drachslin from the Resnick Center. I look forward to seeing this program take off and helping us reach new heights with our student-athletes."

The 14 student-athletes selected from a pool of 33 applicants include: Nate Pierre-Louis (men's basketball), Joshua Field (men's crew), Trad Beatty (football), George Reid (football), Dawson Anders (golf), Pierre Cayet (men's soccer), Nicolette Mayo (women's basketball), Cristen Barnett (field hockey), Becky Gerhart (field hockey), Delaney Garin (women's gymnastics), Jackie Cerchio (women's lacrosse), Megan Cook (women's rowing), Rylie Hager (women's rowing) and Emma Wilkins (women's soccer).

Temple University Athletics

Temple Athletics Launches FLIGHT Leadership Academy

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