SE: Keiteyana Parks Returns from NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum with Added Appreciation for Development Opportunities

By Corbin McGuire

K-State track and field senior Keiteyana Parks plans to go to law school and help shape education policy in the future.

Right now, however, she wants to help her fellow student-athletes understand the opportunities available to them and the power their voices carry in decisions that affect them.

Parks returned from the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, which took place in Washington D.C., from November 16-19, with a renewed passion for collegiate athletics as a whole.

One of two Big 12 representatives out of more than 300 student-athletes in attendance, Parks said she grew exponentially as a leader. The four-day conference included daily keynote speakers and activities that kept those in attendance busy from about 8 a.m., to 7 p.m., sometimes later.

"It was just a really, really cool experience," said Parks, the second Wildcat to attend the conference in as many years, following track and field's Terrell Smith in 2016. "It was long days but it was so worth it. I met so many people, everyone had such positive attitudes and their experiences were so cool to learn about."

Broken up into teams of about 25 student-athletes, with a handful of administrators from various schools sprinkled in, Parks said each group would participate in various leadership-building activities. Each one of them pushed her to learn how she can improve her leadership abilities on and off the track.

"We talked about some of our values and how do we apply that in our leadership. We talked about emotional intelligence and how we can work to better understand our teammates and classmates," she said. "I would say the biggest thing I learned is understanding myself and my personality, and how I can work better with others to be a better leader because sometimes I'm more introverted, but there are situations where to be a better leader you need to be more extroverted."

Specifically, Parks described one activity where each student-athlete had to take a list of 40-50 words that represent personal values and whittle them down to three.

"It was a good moment to reflect on things that are important to me, how I put that in my leadership and just my everyday life in general, and how I carry myself in the classroom or on the track," said Parks, whose three values were inner harmony, family and knowledge. "Why school and track are so important to me stem a lot from my values."

Knowledge explains a lot about Parks. It's where her passion to shape future education policy, specifically to help children stay out of the juvenile system and in school, comes from. It's also the reason she was "stoked" to attend the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum.

"It's the one reason I was really excited for this opportunity was just to be able to learn and bring things back," Parks said. "I really value education."

While in Washington D.C., she learned the ins and outs of NCAA's legislative process, and what a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's role can be in it. She wants to encourage other student-athletes to become more familiar with it as well.

"That was really cool for me because I knew what SAAC did but I didn't fully understand how it worked within the conference and then how that works with the NCAA. We had the opportunity to go through some legislation they're working on right now and that's actually going to be voted on here soon," Parks said. "I don't know if we really understand how much say that we have, but that was really cool to be able to see that, through SAAC, student-athletes get to have a voice in decisions that affect them. I hope more student-athletes are able to learn more about that."

Additionally, the native of Lincoln, Nebraska, said the experience reinforced her belief that student-athletes should take advantage of the many programs made available through K-State Athletics. Whether it is Career Cats, P.A.L.S., or Cats Across Continents — all of which Parks has been involved with — she said the opportunities to develop professionally and personally are extensive.

"There's so much offered through athletics and our student-athlete development that we can take advantage of," Parks said, naming Academic Counselor Marissa Edwards and Director of Student-Athlete Development Arin Dunn as one of many supportive resources within K-State Athletics. "They really want you to succeed and if they can help you, they're going to do it. I'm so appreciative of, one, the opportunity to be a Division I student-athlete in the first place but, two, there is so much opportunity.

"I just want more people to take advantage of that."

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: Keiteyana Parks Returns from NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum with Added Appreciation for Development Opportunities

Players Mentioned

Keiteyana Parks

Terrell Smith

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