The Total Person Program – Preparing Student-Athletes to be Champions in Life

Presented on March 28, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. in the Student Center, Room 301.Joeleen Akin, a former Georgia Tech athletics staff member with more than 20 years of experience in college athletics, returned to Georgia Tech as associate athletics director for student-athlete development and senior woman administrator in July 2016.Sam Bracken is a former football player with Georgia Tech. In 1985, he helped his team to a record of 9-2-1, a national ranking and a victory over Michigan State in the All-American Bowl. With the help of co-author Echo Garrett, Bracken self-published his book, “My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change,” in 2010. Additionally, Bracken and Garrett co-founded “The Orange Duffel Bag Foundation,” a nonprofit organization that provides professional coaching, training and ongoing mentoring for at-risk youths ages 12-24, as well as support for their guardians and caring adults.Michelle Collier was named Georgia Tech’s volleyball head coach in 2014 and has led the Yellow Jackets to 55 victories in her three seasons at the helm. Collier coached one of the most successful student-athletes in Georgia Tech history in Teegan Van Gunst, who earned All-America and Academic All-America recognition for her achievements on the court and in the classroom and was also recently named the ACC Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.Alex Grady chose Georgia Tech for its top engineering program, potential as a student-athlete and closeness to home. He runs track and cross country and is majoring in mechanical engineering.Leah Thomas joined the Georgia Tech Athletic Association in 2003 as the Director of Nutrition and since 2008, she has served as the Director of Total Person Support Services and Sports Dietitian. Thomas supervises Georgia Tech's Total Person program, which provides student-athletes with enrichment sessions, community service projects, sports vision services, counseling services, physiology testing and sports nutrition. She also serves as the advisor to the Student-Athletic Advisory Board.Runtime: 47:57 minutesAs Georgia Tech’s director of athletics, Dr. Homer Rice implemented the Total Person Program in 1981. Dr. Rice’s concept was based on his belief that excellence is a result of a balanced life that encompasses academic excellence, athletic achievement and personal well-being. Over the past 35 years, the Total Person Program has been imitated and implemented by institutions across the country and was the inspiration for the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills program. One of the first student-athletes to benefit from the Total Person Program at Georgia Tech was a football player named Todd Stansbury, who returned to Tech as director of athletics in September. Before his return to The Flats, Stansbury implemented principles of the Total Person Program as director of athletics at East Tennessee State, Central Florida and Oregon State. Now back “home,” one of his primary goals for Georgia Tech athletics is to continue to build on the unique tradition of the Total Person Program and continue to expand it with the needs of modern student-athletes in mind