BATON ROUGE – The Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes has emphasized the total development of LSU’s student-athletes over the previous semester. Not just assisting with academic needs, the ASCA has put on several Lifeskills seminars.
One example is the Health & Wellness program where student-athletes received an in-depth presentation on sexual heath. Hope McPhatter, Wellness Education Coordinator in the LSU Student Health Center, was the main presenter.
“We’re very fortunate to have experts in the field of Health & Wellness such as Hope McPhatter on our campus,” Associate Director for Health & Wellness Becca Hubbard said. “Hope and her staff at the Wellness Center have been instrumental in collaborating with our office on several projects. They’re truly helping us to better serve our student-athletes’ needs. Programs like this one are important because they help to educate our student-athletes in various life skill areas that they may not learn about otherwise.”
McPhatter discussed characteristics of various STDs/STIs (sexually transmitted diseases/infections), and the factors that impact their incidence, transmission, and prevention. She also shared relevant statistics with the student-athletes which included campus, city and national averages.
“The program was very informative,” baseball’s Ty Ross said. “I learned a lot that I didn’t know before, and it really made me think about making smart decisions. Hope was a very influential speaker.”
The session wrapped up with McPhatter and Hubbard touching upon the available resources and support provided by the LSU Athletics Department and Student Health Center.
“LSU offers so many resources for student-athletes, and this program was a great example of that,” track’s Kimberlyn Duncan said. “If there is ever anything going on in your life when you would need to talk to someone or get more information about an issue, that support is available.”