By JOHN INGOLDSBY | Engagement Insider
PHILADELPHIA, PA June 19, 2014 – Philadelphia is a long way from ski slopes, but for two American snow sports stars, it was the perfect place to find answers for their future while meeting other world-class teenage athletes.
As attendees to the annual NFL PREP Leadership Program this week at the Wharton Business School, Stephanie Lebby and Ty Walker joined about three dozen other superior student-athletes to learn key information on transitioning from high school to college – and beyond.
“I had questions that were never answered before that got answered here,” said Walker, a member of the first U.S. Olympic Slopestyle Snowboarding team in Sochi, but who got injured while competing there. “The academic sessions were the most informative and relevant since we talked about transition to college, including the application and admissions process, taking the SATs, and managing time as student athletes.”
Lebby, a member of the U.S. Ski Team, concurred with her colleague, and added, “This has been a great experience learning the basics of such diverse topics as leadership and nutrition, which are both important to student-athletes, to go along with the timely information about admissions and SATs.”
In addition to helpful material gleaned in the classroom sessions from the first-class faculty over four days, there was also the opportunity to interact with peers.
“It was pretty cool how we got to meet all the different student-athletes here from a wide variety of sports such as soccer, baseball, track & field, and of course, football” stated Walker, a native New Englander. “The most interesting aspect of our conversation was talking team dynamics since what we do is individual sports but as part of a team.”
The opportunity to discuss this unique individual/team situation also appealed to Lebby, who hails from California.
“It’s great to talk with kids who are doing all the different sports, many of whom spend almost all their time as a team, which we also do but with the added individual nature of our sport.”
A sport that both girls have traversed throughout their life, where they have lived, trained and attended school in Park City Utah, the epicenter of American snow sports.
Now that they climbed to the top, they are entering the peak of their careers both on the slopes and academically.
“Having just made the U.S. team and with hopefully the World Cup and Olympics ahead, I look forward to taking what I learned here and applying it to both my education and skiing,” observed the 17-year-old Lebby.
As for Walker, also 17, she “hopes to find a high-level school where I can find balance between snowboarding and academics.”
A winning combination for both, who each got a head start at the PREP Program with classes ranging from “Social Impact” and Media Training” to “Health and Wellness” and “Money Management.”
And given that they learned their lessons from leaders that include teachers at Wharton, coaches from colleges like the University of Pennsylvania, executives from the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL, and management from the corporate & sports worlds, this skier and snowboarder got a leg up on life.