Georgia Southern Athletics Launches APEX Program
12/8/2020 2:30:00 PM | General, APEX
Purpose of new initiative is to prepare student-athletes for life after graduation
STATESBORO - The Georgia Southern Athletics Department announced Tuesday the rollout of its new APEX program, designed to further prepare its student-athletes for life after graduation. An acronym for Athletes Preparing for Employment EXperiences, this new initiative will combine the already running Eagles In Transition Program with a new outreach program to close the gap and make Georgia Southern student-athletes ready for the next step in life.
"The formation and implementation of our APEX program will serve as a crucible moment for the holistic development of our student-athletes for many years to come," said Georgia Southern Director of Athletics Jared Benko. "This program was developed with a large cross-section of individuals and provides a comprehensive outline of services to our student-athletes. APEX initiatives will prepare our student-athletes for life-after-sport. I am very excited to share this new program with Eagle Nation and look forward to seeing it positively impact the young men and women in all 17 sports for many years to come."
Led by Senior Associate Athletics Director Student-Athlete Development Gleen Hart and Senior Associate Athletics Director for Administration Tracy Ham, APEX will make a commitment to the holistic growth of all Georgia Southern student-athletes based on four pillars: life skills, leadership development, career growth and community engagement. The vision statement of this program is to "develop confident and independent leaders to win in their careers, communities and households."
Under Hart's leadership, Eagles In Transition (EIT) has been in existence for several years and continues to teach student-athletes essential life skills such as resume writing, etiquette training, personal branding, financial management and voter registration. A four-year program tailored for each step of the college journey, EIT will now focus on teaching mainly freshmen and sophomores before moving them to the outreach portion of APEX.
"We are very excited about the APEX program and the impact that it will have on our student-athletes' lives by providing them with valuable life skills necessary to succeed in life after athletics," Hart said. "It is the mission of the program to create leaders in the classroom, on the fields, and in life by providing programming and experiential job training opportunities and to help prepare our student-athletes for the ultimate competitive challenge - LIFE."
Under Ham's guidance, student-athletes will use the skills learned in EIT to take the next step in preparing them for life beyond college. In the outreach portion, student-athletes will be helped with career exploration, the job search process and experiential learning through internships. APEX is also utilizing Handshake, an online database of resumes and job opportunities cultivated by the Georgia Southern Office of Career and Professional Development. This database lets students upload their resumes and then helps students find businesses in their chosen field and for businesses to search for potential employees.
"Our APEX program is a one-of-a-kind initiative that will prepare and surround our Georgia Southern student-athletes outside of competition and prepare them for life after graduation," Ham said. "Getting these student-athletes prepared for the workforce before they leave here is vitally important and I'm excited to get started on this journey to help make a difference in the lives of our 400 student-athletes."
Businesses or individuals interested in partnering with APEX are encouraged to reach out to Hart (ghart@georgiasouthern.edu) or Ham (tham@georgiasouthern.edu) to begin the process.
"The formation and implementation of our APEX program will serve as a crucible moment for the holistic development of our student-athletes for many years to come," said Georgia Southern Director of Athletics Jared Benko. "This program was developed with a large cross-section of individuals and provides a comprehensive outline of services to our student-athletes. APEX initiatives will prepare our student-athletes for life-after-sport. I am very excited to share this new program with Eagle Nation and look forward to seeing it positively impact the young men and women in all 17 sports for many years to come."
Led by Senior Associate Athletics Director Student-Athlete Development Gleen Hart and Senior Associate Athletics Director for Administration Tracy Ham, APEX will make a commitment to the holistic growth of all Georgia Southern student-athletes based on four pillars: life skills, leadership development, career growth and community engagement. The vision statement of this program is to "develop confident and independent leaders to win in their careers, communities and households."
Under Hart's leadership, Eagles In Transition (EIT) has been in existence for several years and continues to teach student-athletes essential life skills such as resume writing, etiquette training, personal branding, financial management and voter registration. A four-year program tailored for each step of the college journey, EIT will now focus on teaching mainly freshmen and sophomores before moving them to the outreach portion of APEX.
"We are very excited about the APEX program and the impact that it will have on our student-athletes' lives by providing them with valuable life skills necessary to succeed in life after athletics," Hart said. "It is the mission of the program to create leaders in the classroom, on the fields, and in life by providing programming and experiential job training opportunities and to help prepare our student-athletes for the ultimate competitive challenge - LIFE."
Under Ham's guidance, student-athletes will use the skills learned in EIT to take the next step in preparing them for life beyond college. In the outreach portion, student-athletes will be helped with career exploration, the job search process and experiential learning through internships. APEX is also utilizing Handshake, an online database of resumes and job opportunities cultivated by the Georgia Southern Office of Career and Professional Development. This database lets students upload their resumes and then helps students find businesses in their chosen field and for businesses to search for potential employees.
"Our APEX program is a one-of-a-kind initiative that will prepare and surround our Georgia Southern student-athletes outside of competition and prepare them for life after graduation," Ham said. "Getting these student-athletes prepared for the workforce before they leave here is vitally important and I'm excited to get started on this journey to help make a difference in the lives of our 400 student-athletes."
Businesses or individuals interested in partnering with APEX are encouraged to reach out to Hart (ghart@georgiasouthern.edu) or Ham (tham@georgiasouthern.edu) to begin the process.
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