NEW PALTZ — SUNY New Paltz junior and senior student-athletes will receive assistance in planning for their life after college at a resume workshop on Thursday night at Elting Gymnasium.
The workshop, which will take place at 7 p.m. in the Hawks’ Student-Athlete Lounge on the lower level (room 105) of Elting, is part of the athletic department’s CHAMPS/Life Skills program. It is a joint venture with the university’s Career Advising and Fieldwork Center, which provides valuable career planning services and resources to New Paltz students and alumni.
New Paltz Senior Women’s Administrator/Women’s Soccer Coach Colleen Bruley, who oversees the university’s CHAMPS/Life Skills program, recently attended the annual NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Continuing Education Conference in Long Beach, Calif., where numerous topics were discussed. The topics ranged from how to develop campus student-athlete mentoring (SAM) programs to combating student-athlete eating disorders to coaching academics and cultivating the CHAMPS/Life Skills program on respective campuses.
The NCAA laid the groundwork for what eventually became the CHAMPS/Life Skills program in 1991. The result of work by the NCAA Foundation and Division I-A Athletic Directors Association was the Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS) program, three years later in 1994.
The mission of the program is to develop and enhance the life of the student-athlete while in college and prepare individuals to take on a leadership role and be successful in society following graduation.
The NCAA continues to assist participating institutions with their own campus CHAMPS/Life Skills branches, by providing programming and support services, such as instructional notebooks, community service activities and a speakers’ bureau.
