SE: Wildcats Gain a ‘Lot More’ from Second Big 12 SAAC Career Tour
Dec 10, 2018 | Sports Extra, Athletics, Evans Student-Athlete Success Program
By Corbin McGuire
K-State's Brogan Heinen left last year's Big 12 SAAC Career Tour, the conference's first, with a "blown-away feeling." Krista Haddock simply called it "amazing."
Both Wildcats were joined by Reid Isaac for this year's three-day Big 12 SAAC Career Tour, held November 29 to December 1 in Dallas, Texas. All three left with nothing but positive takes on the conference's second go at the event.
"This year we were able to look back at what went really well and what was super effective and kind of tweak it. This year just built on that. It was just so much better," Haddock, who finished her senior season for soccer in the fall, said. "We got a lot more out of it."
"It's crazy what they're doing with this thing," added Heinen, a senior for K-State baseball. "They're improving it to make it better and better."
Isaac, a sophomore for K-State women's golf, took advantage of the fact that she knew people whom had experienced the event. Haddock and Heinen were two of only five student-athletes to return for their second Big 12 SAAC Career Tour, which brought together 22 student-athletes in total — two Big 12 SAAC representatives from each school and a pair of autonomy governance structure reps from across the conference, one of whom is Haddock.
Heinen and Haddock's message, Isaac said, was to "really have an idea of what you want to get out of this weekend."
So, she came up with three topics to ask about while she was there: Internships, studying abroad and the importance of GPA. She wanted to know how all three played a role in her future career.
"I now know all of the answers to those questions," Isaac said.
Like Isaac, Heinen and Haddock said their focus was narrower this year in what they wanted to get out of the tour. Both will enter their final semester at K-State in the spring, so they tried to steer their conversations with the professionals at the tour toward more specific challenges they are approaching — graduate school, for instance.
"I wanted to ask more questions that pertain to me, like, 'Hey, I'm graduating soon, I'm going on to get my MBA, what should I be doing to prepare for this? What should I look out for?'" Heinen said. "Different hypothetical situations that may happen soon."
The tour's format, for the most part, mirrored last year's.
Chris Ogbonnaya, a former Texas football player who spent seven seasons in the NFL and now works for the league's office, was the kickoff speaker the first night. He covered a number of topics — Heinen had three pages of notes from his talk — such as his personal story for motivation but also the importance of student-athletes utilizing their platform, creating a habit of being respectful and valuing their education.
"He really talked about education and how nobody can take that away from you," Reid said. "It's the best investment you can make with your money."
The tour's second day started with an interactive breakfast with Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. The student-athletes also got to gain insight from more than a handful of high-level professionals, including J.J. Gomez, president of Plains Capital Bank, and Gerald J. Ford, a prominent Dallas businessman, at Plains Capital Bank. Later, there was also a networking lunch and a panel discussion, centered on the topic of "How to get hired," held at the American Airlines Center, home to the Dallas Mavericks.
The third day began with another networking breakfast at AT&T Stadium that Reid said, "put some of the skills they taught us throughout the week to use." They then took in the Big 12 Championship Game between Oklahoma and Texas from a field level suite.
Throughout the three days, there was about an even split in terms of the speakers and panelists who were former student-athletes and those who were not. Their professional experience levels also varied, from fresh out of college to decades in their fields.
"It was nice to get both perspectives," Heinen said.
All three Wildcats said that their collective takeaway from the former student-athletes who spoke was that being a student-athlete should be an advantage once their playing careers are over. Not the opposite.
"All it does is bring you strengths, with your time management skills, all those things you get from being a student-athlete, they're just going to help you," Heinen said. "They're not going to put you in a hole."
Another theme the Wildcats said they noticed was each speaker, specifically the former student-athletes, brought up how they wish they had attended an event like this at that age. It added to their appreciation for what the Big 12 is trying to do for its student-athletes now.
"I think it shows a lot about what their goals are for us as athletes, not just to get the maximum performance and to make the most money," Reid said, "but to see these people go out and be successful in not just their professional sport but professional careers as well."
"It's unbelievable that they even want to help us in this way because not a lot of conferences do that. The fact that they're wanting to help us get prepared for the career world in the coming years shows exactly where their focus is at," Heinen added. "They're worried about our experience and where we're going to be after we graduate. That, to me, is something I'm going to value when I graduate.
"I'm going to be giving a lot of credit to them down the road when I'm finding my jobs, and I'm going to be that much more prepared down the road when I'm interviewing, when I'm working and when I'm just connecting with people."
K-State's Brogan Heinen left last year's Big 12 SAAC Career Tour, the conference's first, with a "blown-away feeling." Krista Haddock simply called it "amazing."
Both Wildcats were joined by Reid Isaac for this year's three-day Big 12 SAAC Career Tour, held November 29 to December 1 in Dallas, Texas. All three left with nothing but positive takes on the conference's second go at the event.
"This year we were able to look back at what went really well and what was super effective and kind of tweak it. This year just built on that. It was just so much better," Haddock, who finished her senior season for soccer in the fall, said. "We got a lot more out of it."
"It's crazy what they're doing with this thing," added Heinen, a senior for K-State baseball. "They're improving it to make it better and better."
Isaac, a sophomore for K-State women's golf, took advantage of the fact that she knew people whom had experienced the event. Haddock and Heinen were two of only five student-athletes to return for their second Big 12 SAAC Career Tour, which brought together 22 student-athletes in total — two Big 12 SAAC representatives from each school and a pair of autonomy governance structure reps from across the conference, one of whom is Haddock.
Heinen and Haddock's message, Isaac said, was to "really have an idea of what you want to get out of this weekend."
So, she came up with three topics to ask about while she was there: Internships, studying abroad and the importance of GPA. She wanted to know how all three played a role in her future career.
"I now know all of the answers to those questions," Isaac said.
Like Isaac, Heinen and Haddock said their focus was narrower this year in what they wanted to get out of the tour. Both will enter their final semester at K-State in the spring, so they tried to steer their conversations with the professionals at the tour toward more specific challenges they are approaching — graduate school, for instance.
"I wanted to ask more questions that pertain to me, like, 'Hey, I'm graduating soon, I'm going on to get my MBA, what should I be doing to prepare for this? What should I look out for?'" Heinen said. "Different hypothetical situations that may happen soon."
The tour's format, for the most part, mirrored last year's.
Chris Ogbonnaya, a former Texas football player who spent seven seasons in the NFL and now works for the league's office, was the kickoff speaker the first night. He covered a number of topics — Heinen had three pages of notes from his talk — such as his personal story for motivation but also the importance of student-athletes utilizing their platform, creating a habit of being respectful and valuing their education.
"He really talked about education and how nobody can take that away from you," Reid said. "It's the best investment you can make with your money."
The tour's second day started with an interactive breakfast with Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. The student-athletes also got to gain insight from more than a handful of high-level professionals, including J.J. Gomez, president of Plains Capital Bank, and Gerald J. Ford, a prominent Dallas businessman, at Plains Capital Bank. Later, there was also a networking lunch and a panel discussion, centered on the topic of "How to get hired," held at the American Airlines Center, home to the Dallas Mavericks.
The third day began with another networking breakfast at AT&T Stadium that Reid said, "put some of the skills they taught us throughout the week to use." They then took in the Big 12 Championship Game between Oklahoma and Texas from a field level suite.
Throughout the three days, there was about an even split in terms of the speakers and panelists who were former student-athletes and those who were not. Their professional experience levels also varied, from fresh out of college to decades in their fields.
"It was nice to get both perspectives," Heinen said.
All three Wildcats said that their collective takeaway from the former student-athletes who spoke was that being a student-athlete should be an advantage once their playing careers are over. Not the opposite.
"All it does is bring you strengths, with your time management skills, all those things you get from being a student-athlete, they're just going to help you," Heinen said. "They're not going to put you in a hole."
Another theme the Wildcats said they noticed was each speaker, specifically the former student-athletes, brought up how they wish they had attended an event like this at that age. It added to their appreciation for what the Big 12 is trying to do for its student-athletes now.
"I think it shows a lot about what their goals are for us as athletes, not just to get the maximum performance and to make the most money," Reid said, "but to see these people go out and be successful in not just their professional sport but professional careers as well."
"It's unbelievable that they even want to help us in this way because not a lot of conferences do that. The fact that they're wanting to help us get prepared for the career world in the coming years shows exactly where their focus is at," Heinen added. "They're worried about our experience and where we're going to be after we graduate. That, to me, is something I'm going to value when I graduate.
"I'm going to be giving a lot of credit to them down the road when I'm finding my jobs, and I'm going to be that much more prepared down the road when I'm interviewing, when I'm working and when I'm just connecting with people."
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