University of North Carolina Athletics
CREED Kicks Off Leadership Training For First-Year Heels
September 18, 2014 | Leadership Academy
Nearly 250 first-year student-athletes and approximately 100 mentors joined together Sept. 8 for the first Carolina CREED workshop of the year. The foundation level of the Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy, Carolina CREED is required for all first-year student-athletes. Meeting monthly throughout the year, they learn skills of self-leadership as they adjust to college life and learn what it means to be a Tar Heel.
Upperclass student-athletes serve as Carolina CREED peer mentors, helping to ease the transition from high school to college. Each meeting focuses on elements of the Carolina CREED statement, providing education and information, a supportive environment and the opportunity for small group discussions.
Freshmen are divided into 36 groups, each with two to three mentors. The groups, which have names that draw from Carolina tradition (examples: Gimghoul Castle, Yackety Yack, Tin Can), stay together through the year, encouraging friendships between members of different teams. As part of the first meeting, each group tweeted a selfie and came up with a handshake.
The first workshop of the fall focused on the "C" of the Carolina CREED statement: "I will know and embrace the tradition and CULTURE of this great university and its athletics department." Track and field head coach Harlis Meaders spoke to the group about the idea of building a "Better Blue," and always striving to improve. Freshmen then joined members of the pep band and cheerleading squad to practice (or learn) UNC fight songs and the alma mater, a key element of University culture of which they're now a part.
New to Carolina CREED this year are special invitees from the athletic department. Faculty, head and assistant coaches and athletic administrators are invited to attend the monthly workshops to interact with the student-athletes and see first-hand what they're learning. In attendance at the first meeting were Dr. Deborah Stroman, a professor in the UNC Exercise and Sport Science Department; Abel Sanchez, the UNC diving coach; Greg Beatty , an academic counselor in the Academic Support Program; and Ellen Culler, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Event Management.
"I was inspired by the leadership and enthusiasm shown by the mentors to the first years and the mutual respect exhibited between the mentors themselves," said Culler, who joined Group 2, the Bell Ringers. "I couldn't help but cheer and encourage the entire group's wonderful sense of humor."
Allen Champagne, a junior on the football team and one of the mentors with Group 2, said his table's special invitee made the meeting that much more, well, special. "Having such an energetic and enthusiastic guest like Ellen Culler just made it that much better for our freshmen in terms of understanding what CREED is about," he said.
