BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s basketball player Paul Wolfert spoke to students at Northdale Magnet Academy on Monday morning as part of the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program.
Wolfert spoke to the students about overcoming obstacles and goal setting. The talk was very timely for the junior forward, who was awarded a scholarship for the 2004-05 season after beginning his career as a walk-on.
A Burr Ridge, Ill., native, he is in his fourth year at LSU after coming to Baton Rouge from Hinsdale Central High School prior to the 2001-02 season. He was red shirted that season and played both during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 campaigns.
This is the second speaking engagement for Wolfert, who spoke at Greenville Elementary last year about the importance of staying in school and balancing athletics and education.
The CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success)/Life Skills Program was designed by the NCAA to help student-athletes realize higher academic achievement, increase likelihood of graduation and enter a chosen profession with a higher level of vision, knowledge, motivation, self-responsibility and greater overall success. In Spring 2003, the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program honored one of LSU’s most memorable graduates, Shaquille O’Neal, by naming the program after him.