BATON ROUGE, La. – The Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes held “The Decision” last Tuesday, Oct. 7, in the Lawton Room at Tiger Stadium. This event focused on second-year student-athletes learning more about their potential majors and what careers they can pursue after college.
The Shaquille O’Neal Life Skills Program strives to better LSU student-athletes outside of their sports, and with events like these and the time and effort of the college representatives and career services, the program is able to take the necessary steps to prepare them for a career after college.
In addition to LSU Career Services, representatives from LSU colleges that were involved in this year’s event included agriculture, art & design, engineering, human sciences & education, humanities & social sciences, kinesiology, mass communications, and University College.
“I learned that your years in college go by fast, and do not depend on your sport to get you through life because it will eventually come to an end,” LSU women’s basketball sophomore guard Raigyne Moncrief said. “So like everyone else you must start thinking about your future after college, and take advantage of the opportunities that are given to you.”
The student-athletes visited tables and interacted with the representatives to help make their choice on deciding a major, future education path and even potential careers upon graduation.
“I liked the small groups where we had interaction with some of the representatives from each college, because they had a lot of information and it felt more personal as oppose to sitting in a large room listening to them talk to us,” Tiger pitcher Parker Bugg of the LSU baseball team said.
The lasting message for the student-athletes in attendance was that the resources provided during the event are available year-round to help them on their path to eventual graduation.
“I never knew that we had such cool resources available to help me get one step closer to my career,” LSU volleyball middle blocker Briana Holman said. “I love how they broke us up into groups so that we could learn more about our major of interest.”
The Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes is a 54,000 square foot facility comprised of academic affairs, student affairs and an information technology teams, serving more than 530 student-athletes. The purpose is to provide an all-inclusive, student-centered support structure for all student-athletes from matriculation, through graduation and life beyond.