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Washington College Athletics Announces Scholar-Athlete Career Development Program
CHESTERTOWN, MD -- The Washington College athletic department recently launched a Scholar-Athlete Career Development Program, designed to help place its scholar-athletes in career fields of their interest. The department is working on the program in conjunction with the College's Center for Career Development and Alumni Relations Office.
"Most Division III athletic departments have traditionally not taken an active and aggressive role in attempting to ensure post-graduate success for their scholar-athletes," notes Director of Athletics Dr. Bryan Matthews. "By partnering with other offices on campus, as well as maximizing the resources of former Washington College varsity athletes, we believe we can help our graduates succeed with their initial goals following graduation."
The foundation of the Scholar-Athlete Career Development Program consists of two career-track programs - the "shadow" program and the professional partnership program. The shadow program enables a scholar-athlete to shadow a professional in a career field of their interest, typically for a day or another short period of time. The shadow program allows the scholar-athlete to gauge his or her interest in the particular field and can open the door to future internship and entry-level employment opportunities.
Through the professional partnership program, the athletic department is forming relationships with companies across the country, placing scholar-athletes in a track beginning with a shadow opportunity and continuing with internship and entry-level job opportunities. Among the participating companies are T. Rowe Price, Kronos, and American National & Farm Family Insurance Companies.
Elements of the shadow program were in place last spring as a pilot project. From there, Jeff Shirk, the college's head men's lacrosse coach who is heading up the program, took steps to expand the program.
"The past six months have been spent speaking with alumni and corporations about their interest in participating in our program," statse Shirk. "The response has been unbelievable. Alumni, professionals previously not associated with the college, and corporations have all been very enthusiastic about getting involved. It is easy to see the benefits of such a program and I could not be more excited for our scholar-athletes and the value it adds to their already outstanding degree."
Another important piece of the puzzle is the full support and cooperation of existing campus resources. Shirk discovered that he had a skilled and important ally in the form of the campus's Center for Career Development.
"One of the most encouraging aspects of helping develop this program has been working with the departments and resources already in place at Washington College. I quickly found out that our Center for Career Development is one of the best around. We already have amazing career development opportunities for all of our students and this program is the icing on the cake for our scholar-athletes."
The phrase "Educate Through Sport" appears on both the college athletics web site and on a banner inside Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium. Matthews is aware that, especially in today's world, a big piece of making that idea a reality is an increased emphasis on career development.
"It is more critical than ever that coaches and athletic departments take a key role in assisting scholar-athletes to prepare for success after college," adds Matthews. "Facilitating shadow and internship opportunities, improving awareness, and developing skill sets for networking, job
searching, and interviewing are important to our graduates, and is a process we want to help provide for our scholar-athletes."
More information on Washington College's Scholar-Athlete Career Development Program can be found here.
