South Hadley, Mass. - May 13, 2020 - Mount Holyoke College will have four of its student-athletes attending the 2020 NCAA Career in Sports Forum, which will be held from May 27 through May 29. The NCAA announced that it will hold this year's forum in a virtual format.
Selected by a committee from within the NCAA membership to attend, senior Micaela Pierce (Newton, Mass.), senior Michelle Serrano (Los Angeles, Calif.), junior Tamara Mukulu (Nairobi, Kenya) and juniorJulia Klein (West Hartford, Conn.) will all represent Mount Holyoke College in late May. Serrano, a member of the track and field and cross country teams, Mukulu, a swimming and diving and track and field dual-sport student-athlete and Klein, who is another dual-sport student-athlete competing in field hockey and lacrosse, will all attend for the first time.
Pierce, who attended the NCAA Career in Sports Forum during the summer of 2019, has been welcomed back as a follow-up from the Student Immersion program that she participated in during the 2020 NCAA Convention in Anaheim, Calif. this past January. Mukulu, a Sport and Business Studies major, also attended the United States Olympic Committee's Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere (FLAME) program last summer at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
"Now, more than ever, it is evident why intercollegiate athletics needs graduates of liberal arts institutions," said Chair of Physical Education and Director of Athletics at Mount Holyoke College, Lori Hendricks '92. "We are developing future professionals who are confident working across disciplines and using science and data to make principled decisions. Our four student-athlete representatives to this year's NCAA Career in Sports Forum, Micaela, Julia, Tamara, and Michelle, are great leaders at MHC. I expect to see all of them involved in the sports industry and look forward to supporting their careers."
The forum brings together participants who expressed an interest in pursuing a career in sports, and who were viewed as leaders on their campus. They were invited to apply to attend the forum after a nomination by athletics administrators at their respective schools. This unique virtual programming experience will help student-athletes chart their career paths, while presenting copious opportunities for attendees to learn from current industry leaders.
Notable speakers will cover the following topics and more to prepare attendees for success navigating their futures: self-awareness and its role in professional development; practical approaches to the sports job search; personal branding; developing a career plan; managing yourself as a professional in the sports industry. Through online panels, engaging breakout sessions, keynote presentations and facilitated discussions, program participants will complete their experience with a thorough understanding of athletics as a career path and where they fit into the industry's landscape.
Find out more about the 2020 NCAA Career in Sports Forum here.
One of more than 45 annual conferences and seminars organized and directed by the NCAA leadership development department, the Career in Sports Forum provides college athletes with a broader scope of the career tracks available within the sports business, with the primary focus on college athletics. The forum provides student-athletes interactive experiences with successful individuals in the sports business and a peek into their day-to-day duties and responsibilities.
To be eligible, participants must be a junior or senior, must be athletically eligible and must have participated in an NCAA-sponsored sport during the current academic year.
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