The 2008 fall NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference was held on Oct. 3-4-5 in Pittsburgh, PA. Junior men’s basketball player Lee Bertram and senior women’s lacrosse player Courtney Neenan were selected to attend along with SAAC advisor Brian Williams.
The mission of the conference is to prepare student-athletes for leadership in a diverse and dynamic society. Student-athletes, coaches, athletics and campus administrators worked together to facilitate critical dialogue, address Division III specific issues and create the partnerships needed to impact positive change at the campus, conference and divisional level.
“It was a pleasure to represent SUNY New Paltz Athletics and the SAAC program this past weekend. I learned many aspects of leadership and how to carry them back to New Paltz to pass them on to other student athletes. This conference helped the three of us organize our ideas in order to help SAAC become a much stronger program here on campus and in the community. It was helpful to listen in on what other student athletes similar to me had to say about there experiences as a leader and what they did in their own SAAC programs to make them more powerful.” ~ Lee Bertram
“The conference was amazing. I had a great time and learned a lot of new and interesting things not only about SAAC, but from other student athletes as well. I have brought back information for our campus, community and most of all the athletic program which I hope to put to good use. It was great for me to sit in a room with other leaders and for all of us to work together was surprisingly not a challenge. I thought when you put 20 leaders together and make them work together it would have been utter chaos, but surprisingly it was the opposite. We all learned from one another and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!” ~ Courtney Neenan
